


Gold in the Summertime

by PaperThinRevolutionary (SingFortissimo)



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Love Story, M/M, Modern AU, Unbeta'd, aleck is on the ace spectrum, bartender jacob, im garbage im so sorry, past relationship problems
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6033043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingFortissimo/pseuds/PaperThinRevolutionary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anyone who knew Aleck knew that he wasn’t much for the bar scene.  If one needed to find him, chances are that he was locked away in his room working on some sort of experiment, or tinkering with something in hopes of improving its functionality.  But sometimes that exile got to him and the young inventor had to go experience the rest of the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I haven't written in a while, so give me a bit of slack ;) I'm so obsessed with this ship and we have like  
> so little content so  
> i needed to fix that.

Anyone who knew Aleck knew that he wasn’t much for the bar scene. If one needed to find him, chances are that he was locked away in his room working on some sort of experiment, or tinkering with something in hopes of improving its functionality. But sometimes that exile got to him and the young inventor had to go experience the rest of the world. 

The sun was just beginning to set in the city, meaning it was about to come to life on this particular Friday night. Aleck had a bit of a wary feeling already. He was probably going to regret coming out on a Friday, especially coming out for the first time in a long time, but he would face that issue when he came to it, he thought. Straightening his jacket and tightening his scarf, he stepped out into the brisk June evening. It was chilly enough for a light coat once the sun started setting, and honestly, he just rather liked his scarf. 

Once about a block from his flat, Aleck began to untangle his headphones and get his music ready to go, playing some happy tune that sped his walk just a bit, leaving a bounce in his step once it began. He found himself humming along, a smile finally truly breaking over his lips as he made his way to the heart of the city, looking around at all of the others who were embracing the nightlife. These people all looked rather more experienced than he did, though, and he felt as though he stuck out like a sore thumb. He was certainly more formally dressed than any of the other men who were out and about (which he felt bad thinking, because he barely felt dressed up at all), and he didn’t have any sort of intention for the evening. He could practically read the intention on everyone else like a book. 

_“Get laid”, “get drunk”, “get her number”, “find someone”, “remember who you go home with”,_ and so on and so forth. But there he was, _“get your mind off of the experiment.”_ He had been tinkering lately with a sort of stun-gun device, a little more ranged, more of… Well, it was a bomb. An electric bomb to shock and stun anyone who may deserve it. He didn’t quite know where the idea came from, or why he would ever want that in his life, but it may come in handy. Maybe he could sell it to the Met, make a patent at the very least and see where it took him. That wasn’t important, though. Not right now. That’s why he was out, to try and forget about the bomb which was giving him far more issues than he would have hoped for. He turned his focus to his music again. The tune was still bright and bouncy, a little bit of brass playing along with a nice bass and a fun vocal line that he hummed along with as he moved along the sidewalk. 

Finally, it felt right. He stopped in front of a smoky looking bar that was dangerously tip-toeing the line between “bar” and “dive”, but something about it seemed right to him, something about it was telling him that he should go inside and have a look around, it would suit him well… So he did just that. 

Aleck removed his earbuds and paused his song, carefully wrapping his headphones once they were unplugged and tucking them away in his pocket as he gazed about the building. A small sign resided above the door, it looked handmade, and in its weathered writing said “Rooks Bar.” 

Rooks, eh? An interesting name. He wondered for a moment if the namesake came from the bird or the chess piece, but that wouldn’t really matter either way. So he ignored his own thoughts and stepped into the bar, only to be greeted by the smell of cigarettes and the pounding feeling of classic rock. 

Certainly not a place he fit in, and not somewhere anyone would have ever expected him to be, let alone give a second glance to. He scrunched up his nose, pulling his scarf up to cover it. He took his time looking around, more regret coming to him the more he took in the people filling the small smoky room, but Aleck was not one to give up. He sucked in a breath (through his scarf, of course, preferring the smell of his detergent to the cheap tobacco and cheaper menthol) and walked up to the bar, sitting down and looking at the wide assortment of liquors they had to offer, the different beers on tap and in the refrigerator bottled up behind the counter. They had quite a selection, which would have impressed Aleck more if he really knew the first thing about alcohol. 

Looking around the room again, he couldn’t help but notice the looks he was receiving. Everyone knew that he didn’t belong in there, and they weren’t taking too kindly to the stranger, some of them giving him nasty glances and others spitting nasty words into their lagers and shots. It sent a bitter chill down his spine. He continued to curl in on himself bit by bit, trying desperately to ignore the stares of the other, until a voice snapped him back into reality. 

“Ah, just ignore them. They’ll get over themselves soon enough. It isn’t often that we see new faces in here.” Aleck looked up and found himself greeted with…. _oh._ The most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen were staring back at him, glimmering under the dimmed fluorescent lighting. The man gave him a rogue smile and looked over his frame. 

“I can see why they would be confused though, you don’t look the type to much enjoy our little establishment…” He admitted with a small tilt of his head and a bit of a one shouldered shrug. 

Aleck couldn't help but give a small smile in response. “Well, sometimes you just have to get out of your comfort zone…” He said gently, shrugging back and tapping his nails against the bar. 

The bartender raised a brow at him (oh god, he had a scar going through it. Why was that so attractive?) and hummed. “Scottish, mm?” He said, voice smooth as could be as he leaned in to take a closer look at Aleck, that sly smile turning into a sly smirk. Aleck leaned back a little and removed the scarf from his neck, trying to relieve some of the heat that was slowly taking over his skin and attempting to look nonchalant about it. 

“Yeah, ah.. Born and raised in Edinburgh..” He said with a gentle laugh and a nervous smile, trying not to get caught in the eyes of the bartender. “My family moved to London when I was eighteen.” He said, finally taking a glance at the bartender, who had leaned in just a bit closer. 

“So then… Wild guess, you’ve been here… Three years? Four?”

”Ah, five, actually…” Aleck corrected, fingers nervously scratching at his neck. 

“Five years in London? Mm. I thought you were younger than me.” The other teased with a playful smile, finally leaning back and giving Aleck his space. “So then… Can I get you a drink then, Mister, ah…?”

“Bell. Aleck Bell. And just water, if that’s alright?” Aleck’s voice was small again when he saw the strange look on the bartender’s face. 

“Well, if that’s your poison…” He chuckled, scooping ice into a pint glass and pouring water for the strange newcomer, sliding the glass to him easily. “I’m Jacob, by the way. Jacob Frye.”

“Ah, thank you.” Aleck’s smile was small, but grateful, and he took a sip of the water. He had managed to turn all of his focus to the bartender, forgetting the eyes of the other patrons staring so bitterly at his back. Maybe they had stopped looking, he thought, but he didn’t want to turn around and check. “So, Mr. Frye, from London?” 

“Please, don’t bother with the formalities. And no, Crawley, actually. I ran off with my sister a while back, about two years ago, after our father passed away. London had always been a dream for us and now it’s a reality.” He reminisced with bright eyes, seeming to be unspeakably proud of that decision. “And yourself, you look the educated type. I assume that’s why you came with your family?” 

“Well.. Yes and no, Mr… ah, Jacob. I admit, I wasn’t quite as ready to fly off as you seem.” That earned a laugh from Jacob, and _god,_ Aleck liked that sound, and he liked even more knowing that he had earned it. “But I’d rather not talk about my family, if it’s all the same to you.” The loss of his mother and brother was still a bit of a sensitive spot for him. 

“That’s quite alright, Aleck. To make up for it, could I buy you a drink, then?”

“I, uh. I don’t really drink.” He said softly, nervously tapping at the bar and focusing on the sound, _tnk tnk tnk…._ Finally, Jacob snapped him out of… Whatever that was, leading him to shake his head a bit and blink a few times, finding those jade eyes looking right into his own. “O-Oh, uh. Sorry. Um…. Okay, I’ll have something… Surprise me?” Jacob chuckled at that request, raising a brow. 

“What kind of surprise do you want? Sweet, bitter?”

“Definitely sweet. Not too strong if it can be avoided… I’m not a fan of feeling my head swimming.” With that in mind, Jacob nodded and turned on his heel to grab a few things, moving his way to grab his mixer and begin preparing Aleck’s drink. Of course, the scientist got caught up watching his movements, examining the way that his muscles moved, the way his tooth grazed his bottom lip when he concentrated…. _snap out of it, Aleck._ He shook his head, going back to tapping at the bar, but this time softer and more rhythmically, going along with whatever song was playing on the stereo, some hair metal thing… 

Jacob was back within a few moments, sliding a rather beautiful looking bright red drink in front of Aleck. He examined the concoction, then taking the strawberry garnish to take a bite. Sweet and summery, exactly what he hoped for. “What is this?” 

“Strawberry pomegranate mojito.” Jacob responded with a smile. 

“Doesn’t look at all the sort of thing one would find in this place.” Aleck retorted with a playful grin, to which Jacob laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, well… it’s my sister’s favorite. I have to know it.” They shared a laugh and Aleck stirred his drink with the cocktail straw, then took a sip, feeling all of his troubles melt away with the sweet liquid. 

“God, Jacob, this is spectacular.” He hummed, hand covering his mouth and hiding his goofy smile. Jacob grinned back openly and gave a playful little bow. 

“Why thank you, I’ll be here until I die, I’m sure.” He chuckled. Aleck rolled his eyes, sipping at his cocktail a bit more, not noticing that Jacob seemed to be memorizing his face, every little detail… 

They sat in relative silence after that, Jacob taking a few orders for the regulars and beginning to clean up a few things. Aleck finished his drink and smiled, setting the glass down. There wasn’t enough liquor in it to do more than make his chest feel a bit warmer. He could still think clearly, see straight, and control his limbs entirely. Exactly what he wanted. He hummed and reached for his wallet, only to have Jacob place a hand on his.“I’m buying.” He chuckled a little. 

“Then I’m tipping.” Aleck retorted. Jacob rolled his eyes. 

“Is there any stopping you?” 

“Not a chance.” 

So Jacob let it be, chuckling just a little bit and leaning back against the back of the bar, looking at him for a second before turning around. Aleck set his tip down and began to stand, only to be greeted by Jacob holding something out to him, a very small piece of paper, a cocktail napkin? It appeared so.

“I hope to see you again sometime, Mister Bell?” There was that charming smile again, those glittering eyes…

“I’m sure you will, Mister Frye.” Aleck said, opening the napkin to see…

_Oh._

He felt his cheeks heat and he looked to Jacob, surely looking like a deer in headlights. “Well, I, uhm, I must be off then, um… Have a good evening!” He said quickly, turning on his heels and rushing out of the establishment before anyone could stop him.

 

~

God, he couldn’t get that man out of his mind. Those gorgeous green eyes, the way that they positively glimmered in the low lights of the bar. He looked a bit gruff, honestly, but Aleck just couldn’t get those eyes out of his mind, it was ripping him apart. He stepped back into his flat, shrugging off his coat and hanging it up along with his scarf. His skin still burned where the bartender had touched it, and he was fully aware of the napkin in his pocket. God, this was….. How did he even manage that? One night out and he got the bartender’s number… The bartender who all the girls seemed to fawn over… He reached a shaky hand into his trouser pocket and grabbed the napkin—slightly crumpled—and looked at it closely. His phone number was scrawled across it, followed by

 

_Call me sometime,  
-Jacob Frye_

Jacob… He mouthed the name, then whispered it out on a breath. _“Jacob.”_ His lips curled into a smile and he felt like he was in high school again, getting giddy over the cute student who happened to sit next to him in class. He shook his head and set the paper down on the kitchen table, keys beside it. He would examine it further in the morning. Right now, he thought, he needed a shower. He reeked of the bar. The bitter smell of cheap cigarettes clung to his clothing, hair, skin… Nauseating, truly, now that he didn’t have the bartender’s pretty eyes to distract him. “Enough, Aleck, stop that.” 

He raked his fingers back through his hair and hissed out a breath. He needed to clear his mind. Goddamnit, he left his flat to clear his mind from his work and now it had gotten worse, fogged over by that _goddamned bartender_ who he couldn’t stop thinking about! In a huff, he went into his bedroom, kicking off shoes and clothing in a messy path into the bathroom, where he turned his shower on just a little too hot, stepping in once the water heated and staring blankly at his feet. The hot water pounded on his back, leaving a pleasant sting in its wake, burning away the smell of cheap smoke and cheaper alcohol. 

Of course, that burn only kept his mind at bay for so long before it wandered on back, this time taking even Aleck by surprise. He very rarely found himself attracted to people, truly attracted. Like many, he could find aesthetically pleasing qualities in certain people, but to truly find someone attractive, well… that was new territory for him. He had always assumed himself to be somewhere on the asexual spectrum, normally finding that he was just blatantly ace, and identifying as such, but this… This had him questioning everything. Especially when his mind kept going back to more… well, intimate thoughts made around the bartender… 

After a moment of silence in the shower, trying to clear his mind, he found himself picturing Jacob there with him, those muscular sun-kissed arms holding him close (god, that must feel nice)— _no, Aleck, that’s enough._ He puffed out a breath and grabbed his soap, washing away what was left of the smoky smell, scrubbing it off of his skin and rinsing it down the drain. He washed his hair quickly and rinsed everything away. He was soon stepping out and wrapping a towel around himself, looking at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was already threatening to grey, even at a young age, and he needed to trim up his sideburns. He was clean shaven, though, after that morning, so he had nothing to worry about there. He couldn’t help but wonder if Jacob would prefer him clean-shaven or otherwise… 

Shaking that thought out of his head, he grabbed for his toothbrush and toothpaste, continuing on with his nightly routine as if nothing had happened at all, trying to retain his normality in hopes that everything would just go away tomorrow. 

Once ready to sleep, he tucked himself away into bed, not bothering with pajamas (it wasn’t like he had anything to hide since he was living alone, and besides, his sheets were nice). He sighed and plugged in his cell phone, looking at the time once more (2.39 AM) and setting it on the nightstand. This would all be fine in the morning. It would go away, or it wouldn’t. If it did, great. If it didn’t, well… He could get his answers whenever he happened to wake up… Aleck sucked in a deep breath and pulled his pillow tight to his chest, curling up and forcing his mind to slow until he managed to fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a text. Would that be too much? Just so Jacob had his number. That would be alright, wouldn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a fair warning, I'm seeing a bit of an opportunity to geek out with Aleck a little, what with all of his study in sound and audio devices. I'm getting a degree in sound, so I may project a little through Aleck. ;u;

 First thing upon waking (7.58 AM, 5 hours and 19 minutes of sleep), Aleck reached for his phone and began to research everything that his racing mind threw at him. He didn't know why it bothered him so much, but he needed a label for this. Luckily for him, it wasn’t too many clicks beyond the first search of “asexual spectrum” to find an answer for himself in the form of something so simply titled to be “greysexual”, where sexual attraction was possible but very rare, or even circumstantial. Well, that was too easy, but he would certainly take it, he thought, and he sat his phone back down with a look of satisfaction and a sigh. That took care of that. It wasn’t circumstantial, as there were no altering substances in his body, he thought, so it must have just been the right time or place or… Well, whatever.

Now that he was properly labeled again, he sat up in bed and stretched, sucking in a deep breath and exhaling it slowly. He still felt dirty from the bar, like he could feel the cheap smoke stuck in his skin. He frowned and rubbed at his arms, deciding it best to hop in the shower again before carrying on with his day. 

He didn’t take nearly as long this time, though, making his way back out within just a few moments, slipping on his boxers and pajama pants. He was still sleepy, so his trek to the kitchen was slow. He dragged his feet most of the way, reaching lazily to his kettle to flick it on as he began to prepare a cuppa for himself. After the water had heated and been poured, Aleck moved to the table to look at the sketches and papers scattered about the small space. He needed to work on his designs, and he really wanted to play around more with that voltaic bomb…. But then he glanced around again, finding that messy handwriting right in his line of sight. 

_That goddamned bartender._

He hissed through his teeth, grabbing the paper and looking at it closely. Should he call Jacob? Text him? Give it a few days? God, he had no idea how to do this. It had been so long since he had even considered dating (he had gone on a few dates in high school and it was a goddamned wreck. Crawford Starrick was not a force to be reckoned with… And not a force one should skip out on when there was a date planned, even if they didn’t want to be there…) . He held his head in his hands, fingers tugging at his hair enough to sting, but not enough to come out. He should have given Jacob his number, he should have… It would have been so much better if he let the other make all the moves, but _no_ , why would he have done that? He could feel his cheeks heating up and he groaned softly, head resting on the table. 

Just a text. Would that be too much? Just so Jacob had his number. That would be alright, wouldn’t it? 

He stared at the number, then set his phone next to the napkin. He didn’t want to think about this, but he couldn’t make it go away, so he figured he would leave them there… If he couldn’t resist, he would do it. But he needed to try and focus on his concepts… 

Aleck sucked in a deep breath through his mouth, exhaling slowly out his nose, then grabbed his cup of tea, taking a sip and letting the warmth relax him the best that it could. It got his mind off of everything well enough for the time being, and he appreciated it quite a bit. When he looked back to his papers, he was able to clear his mind enough to scribble down a few more things on each of the notes. He began with a concept of the smoke bombs he had found in a few history books, adding his own elements to create a spark, enough to stun anyone near the detonation point. A long distance stun-gun, a taser with no connection to the person who fired it. He was certain that he could find a good use for it, and he was doubly sure that the police would want the design if he went through Abberline (He wasn’t sure how, but he had become fast friends with the officer.) Maybe, he thought, he should run the idea past him before he made any physical models? He would cross that bridge when he was even close to ready to leave the drafting stage, he supposed. 

A few more things were written, another sketch or two made, and he realized his tea had gone cold. How brilliant. A sigh left his lips and he leaned back in his chair, wondering if it was worth it to reheat, when his eyes looked back to that paper. Without all of his new ideas to jot down… Well, fuck. He was stuck. Nothing else to do but…. 

_“Hey you, this is the”_ no no no. He erased the message.    _“Hello, i”_ no.    _“Hey, Jacob, it’s Aleck, the bloke from the bar last night.”_ So far so good, that seemed fine. _“I hope this isn’t odd, I just thought you should have my number as well.”_ He hesitated for a moment, then sucked in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and hit the ‘send’ button with his thumb. Here goes nothing… 

To keep from staring at his phone and overthinking even a second of silence, Aleck got up and decided to make himself another cup of tea, as well as something to eat. He hoped he would come back to a message from Jacob, and the ability to add him as a contact with the knowledge that he wasn’t given a fake number. He hurried into his room, slipping on a t-shirt before he began to cook his breakfast. It wouldn’t be a wise idea to cook anything he would want with any showing skin. He sighed a little bit as he opened his fridge, realizing he only had enough for that day, he would have to go shopping after this… Goddamnit. 

Sucking in a deep breath, he pulled everything he wanted out of the fridge and set it out on the counter. He really didn’t want to get ready today, but he supposed it was time to be an adult, accept his responsibilities, quit living in his sketches. He hummed and cracked a few eggs, whisking them together and mixing in the few vegetables he had, and the little bit of ham left, then began preparing a quick (and slightly burnt) omelet. Better than nothing, honestly. 

Aleck took his plate, sitting down and looking at his plate, poking at the food with his fork. After a moment of silently staring at the food, he jumped when his phone vibrated, the unsaved number appearing and lighting up the screen. 

_One new message_

Aleck’s heart could have jumped out of his chest. He quickly fumbled for his phone and typed in his passcode, opening the text.    _“Oh, Aleck, the cute one. Thanks for the thought ;)”_

His cheeks flushed, free hand tapping nervously at his table. Should he respond to that? Oh, Christ… He bit at his lip and groaned softly, not wanting to make the decision quite yet, and his phone buzzed again. Right on time. 

_”Is it too soon to ask, are you free tonight? I finally have a night off from that grotty little pub, you want to spend it with me?”_   CHRIST. What was he insinuating? His jaw slacked a bit and he stammered to himself a bit, unsure of how to respond to this, when his phone buzzed again quickly. 

_”Oh, shit, not like that. I’m sorry. Do you want to go to a club with me downtown? I promise it’s better than my bar.”_

A deep sigh of relief left his lips, and they curled into a very small smile. _“I would love that. What time?”_ He responded after a moment. He had never been to a club, at least never one that he wanted to be in. A few memories of Crawford came back, sending a cold shiver down his spine. He would rather forget everything about Crawford if he could. It was years ago, and he would like for it all to stop haunting him, but that would be too simple, he thought as he tried to shake the thoughts free from his mind. 

_“I’ll pick you up around… Eight?”_

_“Pick me up?”_

_“Well, yeah, I mean.. If you wouldn’t mind.”_

Aleck thought for a moment. What did he have to lose? _”Ah, alright.”_ And he sent Jacob his address. _“Do I need to dress up for this occasion?”_

He finally began to eat his food, all of his pointless anxiety from waiting for a response fading to a giddy, bright feeling. He was ecstatic. He felt like he was a teenager again. This was brilliant. Aleck hummed a little as he ate, his day suddenly much sunnier, even with the cloudy London sky. He grabbed his headphones off of the end of the table, plugging them in and flipping on his music as he finished up his food. As the music began to play, he stood up and moved back into the kitchen, getting ready to start his day. First, clean the dishes, then clean up his kitchen and write his grocery list, clean up a little bit, and… Well, honestly, he was going to set out a nice outfit for the evening, even if he didn’t have to dress up. He was rather excited. Maybe Jacob could turn all of the madness around and he could finally associate some more good memories when he thought about going out. Jacob had already helped him with that, but… he had high hopes for that evening. 

~

Finally, it was close to time. All of his errands were over, and he had hopped in the shower _again_. When he was out of the shower, he turned his music on his speakers, singing along to every song that came on, even if it was just the melody of a classical song or every single word to some pop song that he had grown embarrassingly attached to. He had found a certain fondness for baroque based pop music, just bouncy enough, verging on psychedelia, relaxing and fun. He hummed and sang, even dancing a bit in his giddy pre-date (was this a date? god, he hoped it was a date) euphoria, dressing up and brushing his hair, making more of an effort than usual to look presentable. 

He slicked his hair back out of his face, but a bit of it still fell however it wanted. It wasn’t worth fight, besides, it didn’t look bad. After that fight, he straightened his undershirt and tucked it away in his trousers, putting on and straightening his button up shirt out. After adjusting it and tucking it in as well, he reached for his sweater vest (purple argyle, his favorite) and slipped it on, soon after putting on and straightening his favorite violet bowtie. He looked quite nice, if he did say so himself. And right on time, too. 7.45 PM. He smiled, moving to turn off his stereo, which had turned to some Broadway soundtrack (“Heed not the rabble who scream revolution/ He’d have you all unravel at the sound of screams, but the revolution is comin’.”)  
 Still humming the melody, Aleck left his flat once more to wait outside for the bartender to arrive. The sun had just begun to set, and the bright eyed inventor was in love with the view, but he couldn’t help but close his eyes and suck in a deep breath, when he was suddenly snapped very rudely back into reality by a very loud, almost monstrous sound. The sound was coming from his left, a bit behind him, and roared into his immediate presence, stopping to idle. Slowly, he opened his eyes again to reveal— _Oh_. 

“Hello, Mister Frye.” Aleck said with a grin, eyes lighting further when he saw the attractive male on an equally attractive motorcycle. Just when he thought Jacob couldn’t confuse him any further, too. Jacob removed his helmet and got off the bike, getting another helmet for Aleck and offering it.   “Evening, Aleck. If you’re comfortable with it, I’ll drive?” He offered with a bit of a cheeky smile and bright, almost puppy-dog eyes. Aleck could barely resist the giddy laugh that built in his chest. 

“Promise you won’t be too reckless, then? I’ve never ridden before.” 

“Ah, I’ve got you. Hold on tight.” Jacob chimed, tossing Aleck the helmet, which he fumbled but caught properly before it could hit the pavement. His own smile could have lit the London sky all over. Very carefully, he climbed on behind Jacob, front pressed tight to his back. He was tempted to bury his nose in the back of Jacob’s neck as well, but resisted, knowing it likely wouldn’t be the brightest thing to do. He did, though, wrap his arms around Jacob’s middle, holding tight, especially when the bike began moving. Everything felt so new.   All of the road noise, even muffled through the helmet, were like an entirely new universe to Aleck, something so brilliant and different he hadn’t heard before. It was a powerful feeling, he thought with a smile, doing something so freeing and holding onto someone so… unusually tantalizing. He wasn’t too pleased with the strange sensation that Jacob brought about, if only for the possible connotations, but when he could ignore that, it was… Well, it was nice, he would admit. 

Without realizing until the motorcycle came to a stop, a complete silence, Aleck had rested his head on Jacob’s back, if only just a little, and it was quite relaxing, it almost cleared his mind of that gentle nagging fear of what could be coming, of the memories of his last club experiences. He snapped himself entirely back into reality, getting off of the bike and removing his helmet, then moving to straighten his clothing out again (mainly his tie, which the wind had blown crooked). Jacob got off as well, now looking Aleck up and down after removing his own gear. He smiled sincerely and gestured to Aleck’s form. “You look really good, y’know…” He said softly, almost sounding nervous when he said it, which made Aleck blush as he responded with a soft and awkward “thanks”. 

Right off the bat, Aleck noticed that he could hear everything that was occurring in the club from outside, and he wasn’t sure if he liked that or not. He wasn’t sure he was ready to experience all of that ear splitting noise in real time with no sort of protection, but Jacob looked confident, so he followed suit, walking into the club alongside Jacob, acting like he knew what he was doing there, like he wanted to be there instead of just wanting to be with Jacob. 

Much to Aleck’s relief, there weren’t nearly as many people as he expected inside, but the music was still too loud. Jacob seemed to think the same thing, and he offered a small pair of foam ear plugs to Aleck, putting in his own when the other accepted. 

“Ah, thanks, you’re a life saver.” 

“You can never be too safe with something like that.” He chuckled, leaving Aleck grinning a bit in response. 

Once his ears adjusted, all of the high tones fading away and the low tones becoming more of a feeling in his chest than a buzzing in his ears, he could focus more on examining the surroundings. It didn’t look too bad, he thought. The lights were nice, and it had a pretty good layout. The bar looked grander than any he had seen in his limited experience, and it seemed to grab Jacob’s attention right off the bat. 

“I think I’m gonna go grab a drink. You want anything?” He offered. Aleck tapped his index finger against his leg in thought. 

Hell, why not? It was a special night, a night to let loose and have fun. 

“Sure, something sweet? Similar to whatever it is you made me last night?” He requested, and Jacob grinned. 

“Sounds like a plan then, Aleck. Make yourself comfortable, there are some empty tables in the back. I’ll find you when the drinks are ready, okay?” And with that, Jacob waved himself off to the bar, and Aleck turned on his heels to find a place to unwind and survey the club. A small table off in the corner caught his attention, and he made his way quickly to it, making sure that nobody claimed it before he could. 

It wasn’t long until he found himself actually unwinding in the small club, almost enjoying the music once the unpleasant frequencies were tuned down. He was glad that he came out that night, he decided, and he hummed along to a familiar tune.  
 His eyes continued to survey the club, thankful that he didn’t recognize anybody, but he was soon brought back to reality entirely when he heard a familiar voice. 

“Well then, Aleck Bell. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”   Aleck whipped his head around, eyes meeting the source of the voice. 

“I think the last time was when you stood me up, actually. When I asked you to come to this club… Why the change of heart?”   God that voice… Cold, biting and nearly snakelike in tone, enough to send a chill through Aleck. 

“What’s wrong, Bell, it’s like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

But it was so much worse than that. 

“Crawford Starrick… It has been a while…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh this will be fun


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something felt wrong, Jacob thought, but he had no idea what it could be. Nothing seemed strange, not from his vantage point at the bar at the very least.

Something felt wrong, Jacob thought, but he had no idea what it could be. Nothing seemed strange, not from his vantage point at the bar at the very least. After another moment of that looming feeling, he abandoned their drinks which were still being mixed, tossing money onto the counter almost apologetically, and moving to a better vantage.   He had seen Aleck sit down, thankfully, and had an idea of where the strange (yet so sweet) little inventor had gone off to, so he began moving closer, seeing a broad framed and over dressed man, with, frankly, the most hipster haircut and _ugliest_ facial hair he had ever seen, good Lord. He frowned, taking a few steps closer so the man’s frame was no longer blocking Aleck. Oh, no. The other looked worried, afraid of this man, even. That could not be good.   Jacob sped his gait, moving closer to Aleck. He was now able to see the stranger entirely and what he saw… it was not pleasant. It was a face that screamed two losing wars and an internal battlefield that still raged on, a violent looking sharp nose and thick, angry eyebrows, cold eyes with a malicious gleam in them as he glowered down upon Aleck.    _Oh, shit_

“Ah, excuse me sir, do you mind?” Jacob said simply, moving in to sit beside Aleck, almost pressing himself too close. Aleck’s cheeks flushed crimson and he looked over to Jacob, disbelief in his wide eyes. There was no way Jacob was jumping into this mess. 

“Actually, yes, I do. Mister Bell and I are… Old friends, right, Aleck?” The stranger hissed out, even sending a chill through Jacob. The man’s voice was like venom, cutting into the bloodstream and making every muscle in both of their bodies tense. Aleck instinctually pressed closer to Jacob, not wanting to drag the other into it, but desperate to feel safer, a feeling which he knew Jacob could provide. He remained silent in regards to the question—well, it was more of a demand—and curled in tighter on himself.   Jacob could have sworn he could feel Aleck’s heart pounding a mile a minute, and even a bit of a tremble in his form. It made him burn, such an aggressive hatred for this stranger building in him already. 

“I don’t think that’s quite the truth, now is it? You’re here to provoke him, you want to start something that Aleck doesn’t seem to want a part of. What was it, did you two date?” Jacob spat out, examining every movement that Starrick made from that point on. He felt Aleck grip at his arm when the other man puffed up, beginning to grow defensive and aggravated. “You did, didn’t you?” Jacob’s lips curled into a small smile. 

“Jacob, are you sure this is a good idea?” Aleck murmured to him. Jacob could tell that the other wanted to help, wanted to do… Something, but whatever had happened between Aleck and the stranger was clearly more than Jacob could imagine, or really _wanted_ to imagine. It was obvious, though, that Jacob and Aleck both wanted this man to go away at any cost, even if it meant Jacob throwing a punch or two in Aleck’s defense. He looked to Aleck quickly in attempt to reassure him, then turned back to Starrick.

“You must have done something pretty fucked up to scare Aleck off. Did you hurt him before you broke up?”

“I hardly think this is any of your business!” Starrick hissed through clenched teeth. 

“You’ve made it my business by interrupting our evening out, sir.” Jacob snapped in response, standing again. The man was just a bit taller than him, thankfully not enough that Jacob had to look up to him, or that the other even had the opportunity to look down on him. “Now what’s it going to be, are you going to leave us be? Or is this going to get interesting?” He asked, lips curling into a cold and threatening smirk.

Starrick took the same stance as Jacob, looking as if he were at his wit’s end with this man, the one who continued to throw taunt after taunt his way, pushing the limits far beyond anything he wanted to deal with that day, and….   He lost his temper. 

Without second thought, Starrick took a swing, fist colliding with Jacob’s cheek. Even through the pain, Jacob’s smirked remained. Now things could get fun. Jacob quickly took a defensive stance, just in case the other man swung again. “Is that the worst you’ve got?” He hissed through his teeth. He could tell that the other man was seeing red, exactly where Jacob wanted him to be… With Starrick blinded by rage, Jacob was free to do what he needed to do. 

Starrick took another swing, which Jacob blocked with his forearm, swinging his own punch in response, landing a painful blow to Starrick’s stomach. Jacob took another swing almost immediately after, dominant hand colliding with Starrick’s nose, which he was certain he felt break beneath his hand. He could hear shouting, a woman’s voice, and someone hurrying closer, yelling profanities at him. Before Jacob could move again, a red-haired woman had made her way between himself and the other, pushing Crawford away. Jacob turned his head to look back at Aleck, who had been watching on in a state of shock. He didn’t expect for Jacob to defend him verbally, let alone, well… He couldn’t believe this man would throw a punch for him. He looked up at Jacob with wide eyes. 

“I… I cannot believe you would do that for me.” He said softly. 

Jacob smiled and held out his hand, which Aleck took without hesitation. “Come on, we should probably get out of here.” He murmured. Aleck nodded in agreement and grabbed the helmets off of the seat next to him, getting up and hurrying out of the club alongside Jacob.

 

~

“Jacob, I am so sorry about all of that.” Aleck murmured, holding himself tight. He was still nervous, trembling a little bit.   
 The pair had left the club quickly, leaving Jacob’s motorcycle in the parking lot, and opted for going to a small 24 hour coffee shop a few blocks away. This, of course, after assuring that Starrick was nowhere near them and unable to follow them (though Jacob was sure he would leave them be for the remainder of the evening. 

Jacob had sat Aleck down in a little corner booth, staying with him this time and waiting for the waitress to arrive. “It’s alright, Aleck. What was all of that about, anyway?” He asked, dabbing at his cut knuckles with a napkin to get as much of the blood off as he could. He also had a cut on his cheek, not much, but apparently that fucker was wearing a ring, and it had cut him pretty badly. Not enough, thankfully, for him to need stitches, but enough that it hurt, and maybe enough to scar. “I mean, there’s a history between you two, but what is it?” He finally looked back up at Aleck, who had closed himself and wrapped his arms tighter, not looking up from the table. Jacob’s eyes lowered a bit as well. 

“I’m sorry I brought it up, you.. You don’t need to answer that, I’m here if you want to talk about it, though, alright?” Jacob assured, reaching across the table and lightly touching his arm. “I’m sorry that I provoked him, I just wanted him to go away. You looked… You looked scared of him. You don’t need that in your life, Aleck…”   Aleck raised his gaze just a little, remaining silent for a few more moments, speaking once the waitress arrived to take their orders. 

“Black tea, please.” He said simply. 

Jacob ordered himself a black coffee. The waitress left without anything more. 

“I… Crawford and I… We…” Aleck took a deep breath, finally loosening his posture a bit, still hugging himself, but he no longer looked tense. “We.. Knew each other for a while, we… Well, he decided that we were going to be a thing…” Aleck bit his lip, voice quavering a little. Jacob felt his heart break at the sound. “He was.. Not one to take no for an answer. We went out once or twice and it wasn’t all that bad, I guess, but then… Well, it just kept getting worse. By the third date, he was getting more aggressive, and… God, he.. The last straw, I… I told him i was ace, but he kept _trying_ and _trying_ to get me to do something with him, he…” Aleck could feel his eyes burning, threatening to well over. He slumped down in his seat, hands falling to the table. Jacob grabbed one, holding it carefully. 

“Aleck, I am so sorry…” He murmured, brows knit together. “I’m sorry I brought this up, but so help me God, as long as I’m around, he will _never_ hurt you again… That is, if you’ll allow me to stay around.”   Aleck looked up, confusion in his eyes. He must have been misunderstanding that. After everything that had happened that night, after everything that he had just told Jacob, he wasn’t running for the hills? Well, shit, he didn’t even know how to respond to that. Thankfully, he didn’t have to quite yet. The waitress arrived and sat their drinks down in front of them with a sweet smile. 

“You boys let me know if you need anything else, alright?” She said sweetly, leaving with Jacob responded with a soft “Of course, thanks.” Aleck could only smile at her as she walked off, though it was clear that the expression was empty.   He had so many emotions welling up, so many unwanted memories coming back in that moment, he didn’t know what to do. But when he could clear his mind enough, god, when he opened his eyes and saw Jacob looking at him with those bright eyes and that sweet smile… All of those memories and troubles just melted away into nothing, and everything seemed to be okay, even if it was just in that moment. 

After a few moments of silence, Aleck holding onto his mug with both hands and sipping at his tea (two sugars and a bit of cream added in after the fact), Jacob looked at him with a sad smile and a bit of disappointment in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but sucked in a deep breath instead. He did speak, though, after another moment. 

“I’m sorry I even suggested going to the club… I had no idea anything like that would happen, I…”

“No, Jacob, you didn’t know, you couldn’t have known. It’s okay.” Aleck insisted, taking one hand off of his mug and putting it on Jacob’s. He carefully held onto Jacob’s hand, giving it a soft and reassuring squeeze. “Don’t blame yourself for Crawford, okay? Please?” Aleck requested. “You stood up for me, Jacob, and no one else has ever done that for me, especially not when Crawford was involved. You’ve already done so much for me, it means so much. I wish I could show that, though.” 

“You don’t have to.” Jacob insisted softly, turning his hand so he could squeeze Aleck’s back, very gently keeping it that way and giving a very small and adoring smile, one that shone in his eyes as well. It absolutely warmed Aleck to see that. “So… Are we good, then?” He asked with a bit of a childish smile. 

Aleck couldn't help but laugh, a gentle little sound, but a somewhat joyous one nonetheless. “Yeah,” he responded. “We’re good.” 

That was a relief, music to Jacob’s ears. He smiled, finally drinking his coffee now that it wouldn’t burn his tongue past the point of no return. He gave a pleased little hum when he finished his cup, the waitress quick to come and refill it. Aleck accepted another cup of tea, as well, having only a little left in his own mug. 

“So, what now?” Aleck asked softly. 

“Well, I suppose I take you home. We decide whether or not this entire colossal fuck-up has been deserving of another shot and plan from there?” 

Aleck seemed tense at the prospect of going home, really, just the thought of being alone was disgustingly unsettling at the time. He frowned a little bit, toying with the spoon in his mug, nodding along to Jacob’s words. 

“Is everything alright?” Jacob asked without missing a beat. 

“Yeah, of course.” 

“Please don’t lie to me, Aleck.”

Another moment of silence. 

“Alright… I… I don’t feel safe being alone after that.” He admitted softly, cheeks taking on a bit of a pinkish hue again. He was embarrassed to admit it, which put a smile onto Jacob’s lips, as well as convinced a small chuckle from him. “Yeah, go ahead and laugh.” Aleck huffed, rolling his eyes. 

“No, no. I’m sorry… I… Well, would you feel safer if…” Jacob sucked in a breath. “Would you maybe feel safer if you stayed at my place tonight?”

“Would that be appropriate?” He asked softly, liking the idea _quite a bit_ but not wanting to cross any lines. Jacob chuckled again and shrugged. 

“Who cares?” 

Good point. 

“Well… if you’re alright with it, I would… Honestly, I would love that, Jacob… I don't know how to express my gratitude enough.”

“Promising not to trash my flat is thanks enough…” Jacob insisted, a smile playing at his lips. “Though I feel it only fair to warn you, my sister has been off with her boyfriend for a few days, she’s supposed to come back tomorrow, so if you get startled awake by a woman… Chances are that it’s her.” He chuckled. 

“Your sister.. You mentioned her at the bar didn’t you?”

“Yeah, Evie, the one who likes the fruity drinks.” 

Aleck made a mental note of this. 

“So, you and Evie live together, then?” 

“For now, yeah. I’m sure she’s going to move in with Henry any day now. She’s over there more often than not anyway, we’re just waiting on an official invitation for her to move out now.” He laughed softly, but there was something a bit flat about it. Jacob would miss her when she left, but he didn’t quite want to admit that. Aleck smiled just a little bit in response, trying even a little bit to earn another genuine smile from Jacob. He did earn one, just smaller than before. 

“Anyway, just ignore her if she says anything, yeah? At least until I come out and talk to her?” He requested, scratching his head slightly. 

With a nod, Aleck hummed. “Yeah, of course.” Jacob gave an appreciative smile and finished his second cup, just a bit after Aleck finished his own. 

“Well, should we go off, then? Do you want to stop by yours first?” 

“Sounds good, and… Mmh, I can sleep in these, it’s fine. Thank you though.” Aleck slipped out of the booth, putting some money on the table as well as Jacob, then the pair made their way out.   
 Jacob was extremely vigilant at this point, just in case Starrick was lurking anywhere. But they got off easy, he was either still in the club or he and that redheaded woman had taken off earlier, giving them a clear shot to the parking lot and back home. Aleck handed Jacob his helmet, holding his own under his arm as they hurried across the street, getting back on the bike. Aleck was happy to be this close to Jacob again, but the chill of the evening was forcing him to hold on tighter than he did before (which neither of them minded much, in fact, Jacob rather enjoyed this development). 

It wasn’t long before the two had come to a stop, and Jacob was helping Aleck off of the bike yet again, only this time he was leading the other into a building that Aleck was vaguely familiar with (he had probably walked by it a couple of times or something, maybe it was on the route to classes. He would figure out in the morning), and took him up a fight of stairs, opening the third door on the left and revealing a relatively nice sized flat. It at least had a nice kitchen and living room, he assumed two bedrooms if he was sharing with his sister, since the living room didn’t appear to be made up as such. Jacob made his way inside, Aleck stepping in awkwardly after him and following his example with the helmets (just leaving them on the chair by the door). 

“Well, uh… You can sleep on the sofa if you’d like.” Jacob offered awkwardly, earning a little smile from Aleck again. 

“You’re a hero, Mister Frye.” Aleck said with a playful little smile and a small laugh. 

“I try, I try. Wait here, I’ll be right back.” Jacob requested, turning on his heels and going down the hall. Aleck nodded and distracted himself with looking around the apartment, examining a few photos up on the wall. A lot of them were of Jacob and a woman, or that same woman and an Indian man. Regardless, they all looked incredibly happy. Not that staged happiness of a photograph, either. Genuine, bright smiles, bright eyes and pure happiness. He wished he had more happy photos like that around his apartment…. 

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Jacob come back into the room, and he turned around to see him holding a small stack of clothes. “They’re probably going to be a little big on you, but… Well, it’s better than sleeping in that.” He chuckled, setting them on the coffee table, then going to the coat closet and getting a pillow and blanket out, setting them on the sofa. “Bathroom is down the hall, first door you see, uh… I guess I’ll see you in the morning?” 

“Yeah, thanks again, Jacob, this means a lot to me.” Aleck responded softly, taking the clothing into his arms and waving Jacob off. Once he heard the bedroom door shut, he made his way down the hallway and into the bathroom, changing into the too-big clothing (that smelled spectacularly like Jacob) and going back into the living room, snuggling up into the blankets and setting his phone on the floor beside him. 

He took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the other and relaxing into the surprisingly soft sofa. It was easier than he expected to relax in Jacob’s flat… It didn’t take too long for him to actually fall asleep, sleeping through the night and barely stirring more than rolling over once or twice, finding the night on the sofa to be the best night’s sleep he had had in years…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh man should i make them modern assassins?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So… About last night.. Are you alright after all of that?” Jacob asked, poking at his eggs with a fork, pushing them around for a moment. He looked up at Aleck, those green eyes leeching a confession out of Aleck with no effort. 
> 
> “I… Well… I’m unsettled?”

“Hey Jay, I’m ba-… Who the hell is this?”   
 Aleck woke with a start at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. He pulled the blanket Jacob had given him tight up around him as he looked up at the woman in the room. She looked… God, she looked oddly familiar, like he knew her already. Then it came back in his mind. Jacob had warned him about this. Evie… 

“Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine, sweet sister?” He heard Jacob calling from his room. The scruffy man popped his head out of the door as Aleck sat up on the couch, looking between the siblings. He felt like a deer in headlights stuck between the two of them, but he did notice that they were eerily similar… Twins, maybe? 

“Well, of course I am, dear brother, when I find a stranger sleeping on my couch.” The woman said, arms crossed over her chest. 

Aleck felt like he was intruding before, but now… Goodness. 

“Evie, take a breath, he’s alright, he’s with me. He’s a friend.” Jacob assured, stepping out of his room in not but his pajama bottoms and a very thin, too-tight tank top. Aleck felt his cheeks flush when he looked the man over again. “We had a bit of an altercation last night and he didn’t feel safe going home, I invited him to stay over. Stand down.” 

After a moment, she did just that, obviously not pleased by it, but she didn’t seem too irate anymore. She sat in the chair closest to the door, duffel bag falling at her feet with a loud thud. “Fine. I apologize for that.” She said to Aleck, looking genuine, but still sounding a bit fiery. “Evie, by the way.”

“Aleck. It’s a pleasure.” 

“Likewise.” 

Aleck pulled the blanket up around himself tighter, feeling incredibly uneasy now, but it went away soon, Jacob coming over to him and falling onto the sofa beside him, close but not suspiciously or uncomfortably so. Just enough to ease Aleck’s worry. He pat Aleck’s leg softly and gave a smile. They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment or two, then Aleck broke the it with an awkward hum. 

“So, mm…. Twins?” He said softly, a bit of a nervous chuckle breaking his voice. Jacob breathed out a soft laugh as well, patting his leg. 

“That obvious, Aleck?” Jacob asked with a raised brow (the scarred brow, god he wanted to know that story) and a fiendish little grin. He stood again soon enough though, and wandering into the kitchen, calling back out to the other two. “So… breakfast?” He asked. Aleck heard the fridge open, and looked back to see Evie following Jacob. 

“No time for that. Just needed to drop of my bag. Henry and I are going out.”

“You literally _just_ got back, Evie, Christ.” Aleck heard Jacob sigh. He chuckled a little bit and got off of the sofa, keeping the blanket wrapped around him for just a moment longer before wandering into the kitchen along with both of the Fryes. 

“Well, he asked me to get breakfast with him down the street in about half an hour.”

“You were with Greenie for a week, come on, Evie.” 

“How are you ever going to cope when I move out?” 

“Maybe I’ll just have someone else move in.” 

Aleck noticed Jacob turn and look at him when he said the last bit, but Jacob immediately averted his gaze, going back to whatever it was he was doing. Evie glanced between the two, groomed brows furrowing before she sighed and rolled her eyes, leaving the room and leaving the boys on their own. Aleck took a seat at the kitchen table as Jacob worked on.. Whatever, looking up when the other said his name. 

“Aleck? Aleck.” He looked up, blinking a few times.

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s fine. Breakfast?”

“Please.”

“Tea?”

“Sounds lovely.” 

Jacob moved to turn on an electric kettle, humming a little bit as he cooked breakfast for the pair, calling an “adieu, sweet sister” in response to Evie’s farewell as she left again. It wasn’t long before Jacob was at the table with breakfast and tea for the pair, sitting down across from Aleck. 

“So… About last night.. Are you alright after all of that?” Jacob asked, poking at his eggs with a fork, pushing them around for a moment. He looked up at Aleck, those green eyes leeching a confession out of Aleck with no effort. 

“I… Well… I’m unsettled?” He shrugged, taking a bite of the food he was presented. Not half bad for a bachelor, he thought, since most of his friends in that situation survived on takeout and microwave meals. “It had been years since I’d seen him, and… Well, if I’m going to be honest, I thought, dare I say I _prayed_ that he had forgotten about me… It’s startling, sickening when someone who has done so many things to you just reappears in your life after so many years, and when they approach you again… I don’t know what he would have had you not stepped in, Jacob, and I’m so grateful that you did.” He looked up again and smiled a smile that made Jacob’s heart leap. “I really appreciate what you’ve done for me.” Aleck said. 

“I would do it all again, honestly.” Jacob responded. “And, well… I wouldn’t mind having a redo of the coffee-shop half of last night… You know… Minus the stress?” He suggested, taking a sip of his tea and waiting nervously for a response from the other. 

Aleck, after a short moment of consideration, smiled and nodded. “You know… I wouldn’t mind giving it another try… Next Friday night?” 

“Sounds perfect.” This made Jacob beam, and his smile didn’t fade through the rest of their meal. They were both all smiles and laughs through the rest of it, and he couldn’t help but notice that there was a newfound gleam in Aleck’s eyes. 

Once their meal was done and the kitchen was cleaned (Aleck insisted that he help out), Aleck dressed in his own clothing again and cleaned up, thanking Jacob endlessly for letting him use the new toothbrush that Jacob had stored away. With his clothing all straightened up and feeling clean again, Aleck finally brought himself to ask, “Where exactly are we?” 

Jacob blinked a few times, not expecting that question. “Ah, we’re a bit away from yours. Chelsea. I can give you a ride home if you want?”   Aleck shook his head and smiled. “It’s alright, actually. I’ve been meaning to meet up with a friend who lives in this area anyway. Know any good coffee shops?” 

The two spoke on the matter for a few moments, Aleck occasionally tapping away at his phone in communication with his friend, before the three of them settled on a coffee shop that was a nice in-between of the two flats, and Aleck thanked Jacob for what very well may have been the fiftieth time that morning as he made his way out of the building, promising, “Yes, I’ll let you know when I get home” and “No, I don’t need a ride, I’m sure.” Naturally, though, Jacob followed him out, directing him where the cafe was and insisting that “if you change your mind, I’d be happy to give you a lift back.” 

They parted ways with a smile and a wave, leaving Aleck on his way to the cafe. It was nice outside, warmer than usual (still had the London chill, though) and sunny. The walk was exactly what Aleck needed to clear his mind, the crisp air helping him wake up the rest of the way and think of what he should tell his friend about the past few nights…   He was lucky enough that the walk was relatively short, so he didn’t have much time to stew on the issues, and he was soon in the cafe, his friend walking in just a few moments later. Aleck waved to him from the corner booth, smiling widely as the other approached. 

“Mister Alexander, it’s been too long!”

“I was just thinking the same, Mister Frederick.” Aleck responded with a wide grin, standing from his seat and hugging his friend, both of them sitting down again as the waitress approached with their menus. Aleck gave it a quick once-over, knowing he only wanted a drink, but something may have jumped out at him. He assumed that, as usual, Freddy would find some disgusting amount of food to eat, insist on paying Aleck’s bill, and probably win the argument that would follow. Such was a normal afternoon with Frederick Abberline.    But Aleck didn’t mind. The kindhearted PC who was well on his way to Chief Inspector was one of his very best friends, and he always found ways to repay him for whatever bills were swiped out from under his hand. 

“So, Aleck, what brings you around here? You never leave your flat.” He chuckled, flipping through the pages of the menu and peeking up over it at Aleck, who was fiddling with the napkin. He shrugged, earning a smile from the PC. 

“I was just in the area, you know…” 

“I would believe that with anyone else.” Freddy commented with a smile, poking Aleck’s leg with the toe of his boot. 

“Alright, fine. I’ll explain after the waitress comes back, okay?” He offered with a defeated smile. He knew Freddy would ask, but it was worth it to see him again. Freddy took this compromise and chuckled, continuing to browse the menu until the waitress reappeared. The two men gave their orders and thanked the woman as she left, and barely a moment had passed before Freddy turned back to Aleck with a raised brow. 

“So what happened.”

“Alright, I.. Went out a few nights ago.”

“On your own volition, you weren’t kidnapped or brainwashed?” 

“Ha-ha, Freddy, very funny.” He rolled his eyes a little, but did smile at his friend’s humor. “I went to that little pub down the road from my place, you know the one, The Rooks?” 

“Aleck, Christ, we’re called into that place to break up fights every weekend, what were you thinking?” Freddy rubbed his temples and frowned a little. The look didn’t fit well on him. 

“Yeah, I know, but it was calm when I went in there, maybe four patrons besides myself and the bartender. Anyway…. We got to talking and he gave me his number, and when I messaged him, he asked me to go out to a club with him last night… I liked the guy, from what i saw at The Rooks, so I agreed to go along with him…”

“This bloke’s gotta be magic to have gotten you out again, Aleck.” Freddy commented, poking at Aleck’s arm, which earned a swat to his hand and another sincere laugh. “Anyway, why did that bring you out here?” 

“Well…. At the club, we…” Aleck tapped at the table with his index finger, biting his lower lip and keeping his gaze down. He didn’t really want to remember anything but Jacob jumping to his aid, but… “Crawford was there.”

Aleck could feel the air get thicker, and he could see Freddy tense. Freddy was the only friend that Aleck really had in high school, and the poor boy helped Aleck through the aftermath of the hurricane Starrick turned his life into. Freddy was a shoulder to cry on when the unspeakable had happened to Aleck, and he was the only one who had found some way to blame Aleck for what had happened to him (god, if another person said “well, you lead him on”, he would scream.) He was the only one who kept talking to Aleck after he changed school, graduated early and made his way through Uni. Aleck could argue that Freddy was the only real friend that he ever had, and he was perfectly okay with that. Seeing him bristle at just the mention of a name made Aleck feel safe.

“Yeah, I agree.” He said, gesturing to the closed off and irritated posture Freddy had subconsciously taken. “After everything, I figured he would have just moved on, but he remembered, and he came up to me.” He was interrupted by the waitress’ return, and smiled graciously as she gave him his coffee, and Freddy his breakfast. Both men chimed out a gracious “thanks” and returned to their conversation, Aleck now playing with the spoon in his mug, stirring it back and forth, clockwise, then counterclockwise, watching the liquid swirling. He sucked in a deep breath. 

“Did he try anything?” Freddie asked gently.

“I don’t… He may have, but the bartender, Jacob, he.. He stepped in, they actually got in a fight, Freddy, I.. I still can’t believe that it happened, but Jacob stood up for me, he took a punch for me and… Shit, I think he broke Crawford’s nose. That girl that used to hang out with him, Lucy, wasn’t it? She stepped in and dragged him off before it could get worse, but… God, Freddy, he threw a punch for me, he took a punch for me…” Aleck couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Freddy was the only one who had ever gotten in a fight like that in Aleck’s defense before, and they both knew full well that there was nothing romantic between them. God, Aleck hoped there could be something romantic with Jacob. 

Freddy hummed and smiled. “Well that’s sweet.” He said after swallowing a mouthful of food, grinning to Aleck. “And you were over here?” 

“Well.. I… I was a bit afraid of going home alone, so he let me stay over at his place last night. Oh, don’t give me that look, I slept on the sofa, Freddy, Christ.” He laughed, kicking at his legs beneath the table. “What, you think me a harlot, fair Frederick?” Aleck said between laughs, Freddy kicking him back softly a few times. “I would never do such a thing, you of all people know this!” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Freddy rolled his eyes. “It really is sweet, though, what this guy did for you, you know. I never guessed him the kindhearted helpful type whenever I had to break up fights at that sleazy little bar.” He shrugged, then gave a stupid smile. “He is pretty, though, I’ll give him that.” 

The pair laughed again, both smiling brightly. Aleck was incredibly thankful that Freddy was still his friend, through thick and thin, because he really, truly did love Freddy. He was the absolute best friend that the inventor could have asked for, and he was just so thankful for him, whether or not he said that enough, he didn’t know. 

The rest of the morning went on without a hitch, Freddy explaining some of the stranger cases he had been working on to Aleck, and Aleck, in turn, explaining the voltaics he had been working on. Freddy was interested, but he wasn’t sure how well the Met would take to their design. Of course, he offered to give it a shot and set up a meeting at some point with his higher-ups, where Aleck could bring a prototype and explain it to the rest of the officers who would be in charge of the ultimate decision making here. 

By the end of their breakfast, both men were bright and smiling again, a renewed bounce in their steps now that they had seen their life-long friends again and they had gotten everything off their chests that they had been wanting to tell the other for however long it may have been by that point. They parted ways not long after, smiles still staying. Freddie went back to his flat, needing to get ready for some security detail he was doing that night, and Aleck found his way to the Tube, getting back home in no time at all. 

After the night he had, and no shower that morning, he decided that to be the most important thing before he continued on with his sketches. He kicked off his shoes and began to strip his clothing, tossing it into the laundry bin in the corner of his bathroom as it came off. He wrapped a towel around his waist and turned on the water, letting it heat up as he checked his phone, seeing one new message, Jacob’s name lighting up his screen. 

_“You didn’t die, right?”_

Aleck chuckled a bit. _“You worry more than I do. I just got home.”_ After a moment, he sent another message. _“I really do appreciate the worry, though. Thank you, Jacob. For that, for last night. It means a lot to me.”_

_”Don’t sweat it, Aleck. I’m happy to help out. I’ll see you Friday?”_

_”I can’t wait.”_


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Did you ever look up the article, see his mug shot? You really did a number on him. His nose looked broken, blacked both of his eyes…” 
> 
> “Mm. That ugly mustachioed fuck deserved it.” Jacob said simply, earning an loud snort of laughter from Aleck. 
> 
> “Jacob!”
> 
> “What, we were both thinking it!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> many thanks to Nik for letting me bounce ideas off of her.

The week had been so incredibly slow. Aleck couldn’t wait for Friday. He had, at least, made quite a bit of progress with his bomb design, and he had written a pretty good selling point for them to deliver when he was ready to get Freddy’s contacts. He just needed to finish them now, which, well… God knew how long that could take him. 

He had made a daily habit of talking to Jacob, and soon began to memorize the other’s schedule. While Aleck was usually up around 8, 9 at the very latest, Jacob had gotten into the habit of sending him “good morning!” anywhere from 10 am to noon. Aleck, of course, blamed his job for most of that, assuming that working a full shift at the bar, arriving home at 3 or 4 in the morning, _every morning_ could do that to someone, but the drastic schedule difference between their lives did prove amusing to Aleck.   He would respond to those messages every day, he and Jacob would talk for hours… But they hadn’t had a chance to meet up face to face before Friday. It didn’t matter too badly, though, because they did manage to learn quite a bit about each other. Aleck knew Jacob’s habits, schedules, and linguistic tendencies (he never used any abbreviations unless he was in a hurry, which Aleck liked, but his punctuation could be lacking when he had too much to say). Jacob, though he didn’t quite know what exactly Aleck did yet, always had a sense of humor when it came to how sketchy Aleck could be when explaining things. Usually he would ask “what kind of science” Aleck was doing that day, which made him smile. 

The science of the day that entire week had been the voltaic bombs, taking only a moment here or there to sketch up and scribble some other idea that had come to him. That could wait, though. He finally had a physical shell for the project, and it was perfect! God, it was absolutely perfect, Aleck couldn’t believe it. He grinned widely and held the small device in his hand, fiddling with the shell. He had so much to do with it still, but he couldn’t bring himself to break this one, he couldn’t bring himself to test it to his full potential. So he set it aside and stared at it for another moment before beginning to tinker with the supplies again, making another few copies of it, which worked, with luck, precisely how he needed them to. Now it was just a matter of the electronics inside, another battle in and of itself. 

Thankfully, he still had two days before meeting up with Jacob again (he never thought he would be thankful for that), and he had all the time in the world to work on the electronics. At the very least, he could jot down a few specs and potentials, which was more than he thought he would be doing that week, honestly. So Aleck, after scribbling about 12 pages of equations, potentials, mixes, so on and so forth, decided to take a much needed break. 

Looking up at his clock, he gave another smile. It was a little past noon, which was a pretty good time to take a break, he thought, as he got up and turned on his coffee maker. He clicked his tongue a few times and puffed his cheek as he thought, soon deciding that _”yes, I have done good enough to excuse eating a tub of ice cream instead of a legitimate lunch.”_ With that, he grabbed a spoon and an unopened tub of ice cream out of his freezer, taking them into his living room where he landed on the couch with a soft **thump**. He pulled his legs up under him and opened the ice cream, flipping on his small television to have the drone to distract him, flipping through the stations until he landed on some local news station with anchors he didn’t recognize speaking of things he was honestly unfamiliar with. Their voices were pleasant enough, though, allowing Aleck to zone out and get lost in his own thoughts as he poked at his treat with the spoon. 

About fifteen minutes later, Aleck had finished off half of the little tub and turned to scrolling through mindless social media on his phone when the voice on the television caught his interest. 

_”In response to the events of Saturday night, a suspect has been apprehended. Twenty-eight year old Crawford Starrick has been arrested in connection to the rampage, and is being held on all charges. No bail has been set, and further investigation is underway.”_

Aleck choked on his spoon. _What?_ He leaned forward in on his sofa and looked at the tv screen, seeing Crawford appropriately battered after the encounter with Jacob (rightfully so, the bastard.) He was slack jawed as he watched the report, but he quickly fumbled to text Jacob (even though he was sure the other was still asleep). 

_“Jacob, you will never believe what I just saw on the news._

_They caught him._

_He’s in jail.”_

He typed quickly enough that his fingers almost shook, excitement coming through him like lightening bolts. He felt safe on his own now, truly safe on his own now, knowing that there was no way that Crawford could get to him now. He felt a wide smile break out over his lips as this revelation really hit him, and he was soon giggling a bit to himself. God, this was spectacular! 

Aleck received a response from Jacob almost instantly, _“No, what? Starrick? Aleck, that’s amazing! Now we can celebrate on Friday! :)”_

Celebrating with Jacob, that sounded brilliant. He grinned wider and tapped away again, the thought now coming to mind that without the chance of another surprise appearance from Crawford… Well, maybe he would be willing to give going out to a club with Jacob another chance? He would have to wait and see, it was too soon to really make judgement on that, but the thought was nice. 

Of course, his mind had to take it past that elation and straight to the worst possible thing, which was at the moment, “what about that redhead, though? Was she caught?” But what were the odds that she would have joined in Crawford’s little spree, let alone the odds that she was a vengeful type? Aleck shook himself out of it and smiled again, convincing himself that things were fine, everything was brilliant. He was free of the threat, he had found Jacob, his bombs were coming along swimmingly.   Life was ideal at that moment.

~

Nothing interesting happened for the rest of the week. Aleck had recreated his prototype and found the shell worked how he intended it to, and the rest of his time had been spent focusing on the electrical factor of it, which was coming along quite beautifully, so needless to say he was incredibly bright and smiley once that evening rolled around. He was early to the coffee shop, deciding that he wanted to get out of his apartment and wander for a while beforehand (he knew the area they were going to had a lot of incredibly nice little shops that he had never gotten to look around). With their date at five, he was out by two and wandering the area in no time, eyes bright and excited. 

Aleck had managed to find a few little trinkets here and there that he liked, which he packed away in his book bag after purchasing, but he did soon run out of shops. The area was smaller than he expected, and he still had an hour left. Jacob surely wouldn’t mind if Aleck sat in the shop on his own for a while… And he did bring his computer and notebook along (honestly, Aleck anticipated this happening, it usually did), so he could get some more work done while he waited.

 So he did just that. 

The shop was lovely, cozy and warm, incredibly inviting. Aleck found a nice table tucked away off in the corner and ordered a drink, immediately pulling out his notebook to scribble away at the pages after plugging his headphones into his computer. Soon, the poppy song he had been listening to the previous week came on his shuffle and he broke out in a grin. The song had been playing as he was entering the grungy little bar, and now he couldn’t shake the thought of Jacob from the bright melody, Matt Nathanson’s “Gold in the Summer Time”. He didn’t notice, but he had begun to bob in his seat to the rhythm coming through his headphones as he scribbled down in his journal and hummed along softly. He made sure the humming didn’t disrupt any other cafe-goers, though. 

That last hour went by quickly, and Aleck wasn’t stirred from his work until he felt someone sit across from him, and he looked up only to be caught in that green eyed gaze he was growing so fond of already. Immediately, his music was muted and his headphones were out. He was quickly packing his computer and headphones as he spoke. “Jacob, it’s wonderful to see you.” Aleck beamed. 

Jacob chuckled a little and smiled. “I was thinking the same. How early were you?” 

Embarrassed, Aleck responded. “Oh, um. About an hour, actually… I decided to wander around before and, well… I overestimated how much time I needed, I suppose.” He shrugged and rubbed his neck. He tapped his pen against his notebook cover a bit and looked up with a shy smile. 

“Ah, that’s fair. It’s a nice area… Do you mind me asking what you’ve been working on for an hour?” Jacob raised a brow (that scarred brow, it was always the scarred brow, and _damn_ was that enticing. 

“Are you sure you want to hear about it?” Aleck asked, treading lightly on the subject. He knew that the topic tended to bore people, and that was the last thing he wanted to do—bore Jacob. But those eyes stayed bright, enthused and interested. 

“Of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.” He teased, resting his elbows on the table and leaning forward.  After a short moment of hesitation, Aleck’s notebook was opened again. “Well… I’m not sure how to really explain it to you, but… Alright. I have this idea,” he turned the notebook around, showing Jacob the sketches and diagrams, “for a.. Well, I suppose it’s an explosive taser, if you really come down to it. It works, well.. It will hopefully work, I’m still figuring out the specs, from long distances and they contain an electric charge. If they land near their target, they provide the same effects as a close range taser. One of my very best friends works for the Met, and he’s told me time and time again about how much of an issue distance can be when chasing a suspect, so rather than rely on the stun guns and tasers… I thought a projectile would be the next best thing. Easier to aim, I think, and packs more of a punch, but no real lasting damage if I do everything properly.” 

Aleck’s eyes sparkled as he explained all of this, so full of excitement, he was positively beaming when he saw Jacob’s interest remained. 

“See, the case breaks upon impact, and it’s made of biodegradable materials, so there’s no worry of any waste, and, if my plan works, they’ll activate much like a grenade would, with some sort of pin removal or trigger. The first test of the shells have worked wonderfully with the impact, but with no voltage, I’m unsure of what would be the best activation for them yet. Honestly, I’m unsure if the Met will even want them, but I can’t even bring the concept until I have the science down.” Aleck stated everything in a strong and factual tone, but held a childlike wonder in his words. 

Jacob grinned and nodded. “So is this what you do then, Mister Bell? Do you have a company you work with, or is it all..?” Jacob didn’t quite know the word… 

“Oh, oh! It’s freelance, I suppose, I… I was actually quite lucky. I had worked on a few things in college, mostly dealing with audio and such, very rarely leaving that field, but everything got quite a good reputation… I was given a grant to work on my projects for two years. This alone has brought me four months into it, just getting the shell right and the concept put onto paper properly.” Another laugh. “Who knows where I could be in two years, what I could do…” He said the last words in a dreamy tone, starry eyed and excited. 

Jacob matched his excitement easily, and it was genuine. 

“Aleck, this is spectacular.” He said, gently putting one of his hands over Aleck’s. “You could change the world, this is brilliant, you know…. God, I wish I knew more on the subject so I could help.” He said with a bit of a playful (read: tempting) pout on his lips. With Aleck’s own temptations, he couldn’t help but notice Jacob’s eyes had fallen to his lips a few times in the time they had spent together—he wondered if they shared the same desire. That would be figured out later, as the waitress of the cafe had come back to see if Aleck wanted anything else, happy to take the order of the other now, as well. 

Aleck noticed his order was the same as it was the last time they were out. 

Was he analyzing Jacob’s habits? He tried to pay this thought little mind. 

“Honestly, Jacob, it’s help enough just… Just hearing someone else excited over the idea.” Aleck admitted, his tone thick with gratitude. Freddy was great, but he didn’t really understand the science, or care to learn. He would listen, but that interest, well… It just wasn’t there. Aleck understood, as he could feel much the same when Freddy would go on about certain things to do with the Met. It was nice having enthusiasm returned every now and then, Aleck thought. He could definitely get used to it. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah. Promise. Thank you, Jacob, it’s nice being able to talk about all of this. Bottling things up, even positive things, not too good for your health.” Aleck laughed, moving the hand beneath Jacob’s and tentatively lacing their fingers. The action, though simple, made his heart thump a little harder. Jacob made no move to stop him, though, instead squeezing his hand and humming a gracious noise, as if he had been waiting to do the exact thing himself for quite some time. 

“I assume you’ve been busy with this all week, then? Pausing only to relay the news of Starrick’s demise to me?” Jacob questioned. 

Aleck shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. “More or less, yeah. Once I’m invested in something it’s kind of hard to stop until I’ve finished it or something more pressing comes around.” He did pep up even further at the mention of Starrick. All the talk of his experiments had completely cleared his mind of anything else. Now he was back to that giddiness he felt earlier that week. “Did you ever look up the article, see his mug shot? You really did a number on him. His nose looked broken, blacked both of his eyes…” 

“Did it now? I haven’t been able to check.” 

With his free hand (he didn’t plan on letting go of Jacob’s any time soon if he could manage), Aleck unlocked his phone and found his way to the news site, pulling up the article and enlarging the photo of Starrick’s mugshot attached to it. Surely enough, his nose was crooked, both eyes bruised, and _damn_ did he look angry. Jacob seemed to puff with pride knowing he had done this to that. 

“Mm. That ugly mustachioed fuck deserved it.” Jacob said simply, earning an loud snort of laughter from Aleck. 

“Jacob!”

“What, we were both thinking it!” He responded with a laugh of his own, both men bowing their heads in attempt to cease their laughing fits, barely able to compose themselves enough to thank the waitress when she returned. Jacob managed, but barely, and Aleck had covered his mouth with his hand, trying desperately to regain his composure. He was so giddy, he couldn’t believe it. 

~  
 The boys finished up their drinks and left the shop, the date going splendidly. They had to part ways afterwards, though. Jacob needed to go to work, and Aleck needed to work on his designs. Jacob did, though, insist on walking Aleck home and getting as much time as they could together. They walked hand in hand (Aleck was incredibly grateful for this), and Jacob lead him to the front door, smiling all the while. 

“So, I’ll see you again soon, I hope?” He asked, taking both of Aleck’s hands in his. 

“I would like that. Let me know when you get to work, alright?” 

“Of course.”

Jacob smiled, not quite ready to leave. Aleck noticed Jacob’s eyes flickering to his lips yet again, the way they seemed to do every time the pair were close to one another. Well, it was worth a shot, and now seemed as good a time as any. Aleck sucked in a deep breath. It was now or never, he told himself, biting his lower lip for just a second before he leaned in closer to Jacob, stealing a sweet, chaste kiss. 

Jacob was much softer than Aleck had expected. 

He also hadn’t really expected Jacob to lean in, but there they were. He had moved so his hands rested on Aleck’s hips. Aleck had moved his arms so they hooked around Jacob’s neck. The kiss didn’t get any deeper, but it got more intimate, the world seemed to be spinning only for the two of them.   Oh, Aleck could get used to that feeling.

 He pulled back and looked at Jacob with bright eyes. The same expression was returned. 

The pair separated from each other’s arms slowly, returning just to holding hands. 

“Ah, I should…” 

“Yeah, don’t be late. Promise you’ll text?”

“Of course. Have a good night, Aleck.” 

“You too.”

Jacob smiled and leaned in, pressing another kiss to his lips before he turned on his heels and walked away.

Aleck could feel the kisses lingering for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aahhh i'm sorry it took so long  
> this chapter is dedicated to the amazing roonie-doodle on tumblr, who drew this brilliant beautiful fanart that i am so grateful for omg <3 http://roonie-doodle.tumblr.com/post/141234065644/scottish-mm-yeah-ah-born-and-raised-in 
> 
> thank you sweetie you really helped me get back on my feet and into writing this again, i owe you <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Evie wanted me to ask you…. Would you be interested in us going out with her and Henry, a double date? Henry wants to meet you, and I’m sure the two of you would get along.”

Even the next morning, Aleck could feel Jacob lingering on his lips. He enjoyed that feeling quite a bit, and he hoped he could have it again soon. Of course, he wasn’t likely to tell this to Jacob, as they didn’t speak about what happened the night before after Jacob got to work. 

Maybe that would change today, Aleck hoped when his phone buzzed, noticing that it was a message from Jacob. He must have just gotten up, even though it was a bit early for him. Aleck had been awake since about 9, and it was 9:45 at that point (and here he was, still in bed). He hummed and tapped away at his screen, opening the message. 

_“Morning, Aleck. Hope you slept well. I wanted to say, and I don’t know how to say it without being awkward? But thank you for last night, that was, well… It was the last thing I expected. It was nice. Your lips are really soft.”_

And then came another message.

 _“Oh god, I can’t believe I actually just wrote that._  
 I can’t believe i sent that to you jesus that must sound so lame im so sorry.”  
 Aleck couldn’t help but laugh, rolling his eyes as he responded; _“It’s perfectly alright, Jacob, I’m glad you aren’t upset about it.”_

The response from Jacob was quick, _“Upset? God, I’m anything but upset. I was actually kind of hoping it could happen again?_

_I dunno. If you wanted that I mean.”_

Another laugh from Aleck. _“Of course, Jacob.  
 I would love nothing more.”_

Finally willing himself out of bed, Aleck made his way to the kitchen to start his day, preparing his breakfast and sauntering into his living room, curling up on the couch with a bowl of cold cereal and reruns of some panel comedy show, he never bothered to learn the name, but he enjoyed the commentary for the most part. It was easy to get lost in it and ignore the problem of the real world, which was exactly what Aleck was looking to do. It could have only been better if Jacob was by his side. 

~

The two had been seeing each other for about a month now, and Aleck’s life had improved significantly. Every weekend (occasionally weeknights) the pair would get together for something and it was absolutely brilliant. On more than one occasion, Jacob had ended up staying the night at Aleck’s because the two had fallen asleep watching some cheesy movie on Aleck’s sofa, snuggled together as a mass of entangled limbs. They were both incredibly happy. Aleck had given the clubs another chance and actually enjoyed them, so long as Jacob was dancing with him. He still tended to stay away from drinking, though, never having more than one or two mixed drinks and always drinking them at a relatively slow pace so the buzz never hit him too hard. As their nights out became more frequent, so did their nights in. For every time out they had, they spent one, if not two, nights snuggled up on a sofa at one of their respective flats watching some campy film that Jacob suggested (occasionally watching some documentary that Aleck convinced Jacob that he may enjoy).   One of those such nights, Jacob looked up and nuzzled against the underside of Aleck’s jaw, placing a kiss there before he spoke. “Aleck, luv…” He hummed, nose burrowing against his neck. A little bit of a shiver crept it’s way through Aleck. 

“Yes, Jacob?”

“Evie wanted me to ask you…. Would you be interested in us going out with her and Henry, a double date? Henry wants to meet you, and I’m sure the two of you would get along.” Of course, Aleck had no idea why Jacob was trying so hard to convince him , but he would go along with it anyway. He gave a sweet little smile and leaned in close, giving him a gentle kiss. 

“You don’t need to explain, I’d be happy to go, Jacob.”

His eyes seemed to light up with that revelation. “God, Aleck, you’re wonderful.” 

“I know.” Aleck laughed and stole another quick kiss before the couple went back to watching whatever lame movie that happened to be on. 

~

The date was set and Aleck was quite excited to meet Henry. He had heard quite a bit about him from the few times he had met Evie, and Jacob seemed to have nothing but praise to say, beyond the fact that he was, in fact, dating Evie. and Jacob did, in fact, need to be that annoying and protective brother. Evie and Henry had gotten used to this fact mere days into dating, and here they were years later. Clearly Jacob’s annoyance wasn’t always a enough to deter either of them from the relationship (not that Jacob had really wanted that, though). 

They both seemed like men of science, to an extent, and Aleck was happy to meet another person with a relatively similar mind. He enjoyed Evie, as well, so surely anyone she kept in her company would be pleasant enough, intelligent and eager as the elder Frye was. 

Aleck was ready for dinner about an hour early, wearing something comparable to what he wore the first night he went out with Jacob, as it was just fancy enough to slide wherever they went, and he was incredibly comfortable in such things. He straightened out his bowtie and fell into his spot on the sofa, curling his legs up under him and flipping on the television to pass the time. Everything seems as normal as it could be in London, no particularly shocking headlines to be seen. It was always nice not seeing any catastrophes on the news. 

The remaining hour went by quickly, and Jacob had soon told Aleck he was outside. As per their routine, he met the Frye boy outside with the extra helmet in his arm, as well as the extra leather coat. They decided it best to keep them at Aleck’s, since he was the only one who ever used it, and with hopped onto the back of his bike, holding onto him tight for whatever duration of time and enjoying the closeness quite a bit. They pulled up outside of a nice looking restaurant after a pleasant ride, and Aleck seemed entranced by the place. He looked up at it with large eyes at the glass building, a gentle and beautiful script identifying it as The Fable. He let out a soft “wow” and peeked around, waiting for Jacob before going in. 

Once they entered, his astonishment remained as they saw everything the place had to offer. Jacob spoke to the host for a moment, and she was soon leading them downstairs to what was easily one of the most fascinating and lovely places Aleck had ever gone. With all the lovely and bookish decor, Aleck was surprised he had actually never gone into this place before. Surely he had passed it a few times, he did find himself journeying to Central London for supplies quite often…  
 His mind cleared of all wonder once they rounded a corner to see Evie and who he assumed must be Henry, sitting in a lovely booth surrounded by…. Goodness, surrounded by books! The novels stacked high and framed the booth brilliantly, leaving Aleck bright eyed in wonder. He loved this place and he could only hope the food was even half of what the atmosphere was. 

Soon, Aleck managed to shake himself from his state of wonder and approach the table with Jacob. “Evie, it’s wonderful to see you as always. Henry, I presume?” Aleck held out his hand. 

The dark skinned across from him took it and gave a firm shake, a charming smile, and in a lovely and lightly accented voice, responded, “Yes. Henry Green.”

“Alexander Bell, call me Aleck. It’s lovely to meet you.” 

“Likewise.” 

Jacob and Aleck took their seats and looked the menu over. Aleck’s eyes wandered the wine list for a moment along with Jacob’s, but both men conceded not to drink, Jacob on the grounds that he had to drive and could always get something at home. Aleck on the grounds that, well… He was incredibly picky with wine on the few occasions that he considered the indulgence. Henry and Evie on the other hand, now living within walking distance in their newly shared flat, decided to get a bottle of a nice Malbec to share. 

They continued perusing the menu for a moment longer before the waitress returned, setting their drinks in front of them and taking their meal orders before she was off again. The two couples sat in content silence until Henry piped up, looking at Aleck with curiosity in his eyes. 

“So, Alexander, you and Jacob met at The Rooks?” 

“Ah, yes. About… Mm, about month and a half ago now, yeah?” Aleck looked to Jacob, who nodded and smiled, gently placing his hand on Aleck’s leg. “It was luck, really.” He chuckled. “How about you and Miss Evie, how did you two meet?” 

Aleck could see Jacob roll his eyes a bit. This certainly wouldn’t be the first time he was hearing this story. Henry’s eyes were bright and he looked to Evie, who gestured for him to go ahead with the story. 

“Ah, well, it was back when we were in Uni, Miss Frye was in one of the classes that I was the aide in, we were studying different forms of nonverbal communication. She and I had exchanged a few notes through the course, and we had started to study together, my assistance in the communications class in exchange for hers in our history courses. About halfway through the semester, we began working on floriography, which I have always been fascinated by.” Henry’s smile grew at this point, and Aleck cocked his head with interest. He had always heard about this before, but had never gotten around to studying it. Perhaps Henry would help him out with it. “Anyway… Once that unit began, I started to find flowers in my spot, with very interesting meanings behind them, pink camellias for longing, an orange rose for fascination, white violets, a symbol of taking a chance for happiness, even gloxinias, love at first sight…” 

At that point, Evie had turned her attention fully to her slowly depleting wine glass. Her freckles became a bit more obvious the deeper her blush became. Jacob let out a laugh and rolled his eyes again.

Henry went back to his story effortlessly after taking a sip of his wine. “Of course, though, Evie didn’t leave a note, which made it a little bit difficult to respond. I took the challenge, though, and went into the classroom early one day, managed to catch her coming into the room with the last flower, the gloxinia. She was surprised, but I met her with a bouquet of jonquils, a symbol of returned affections, and… Well, that was four years ago, here we are now.” Henry carefully placed his hand on top of Evie’s. Evie flipped her hand and laced their fingers. 

“Oh, Henry, that is so sweet…” Aleck said gently, his eyes bright and wide. It was like some rom-com he would have made Jacob watch, if he were going to be honest, and he was so full of wonder. He had never truly met a couple with such a brilliant history, he loved it.

“Thank you, Aleck… It… Well, I’m still a bit surprised that it happened the way it did, it doesn’t seem real, but I’m so happy that it is.” He hummed, leaning a bit closer to Evie and brushing a stray lock of hair from her face with his free hand. Evie squeezed his hand and leaned into the touch just a bit. Henry responded by kissing her cheek. God, they looked brilliant together. 

Their dinner was going splendidly, Aleck and Henry bonding more than either Frye had expected, but neither one of them had any complaints to give about it. The boys seemed to be pretty good friends already, which was nice, and before they knew it, Henry had agreed to teach Aleck the basics of floriography, which made Aleck light up like a candle. He wondered if Jacob knew any of it, if he would catch onto the things he would be saying with the messages he now planned to deliver. Even if he didn’t, the bouquets would be beautiful at the very least, and Aleck would know all of the things that he had said. Surely, that was better than nothing. 

Aleck and Henry had exchanged phone numbers at some point during the meal, and they would occasionally indulge each other with random tidbits of information (Aleck had a lot to say about a lot of things, and Henry seemed to be just as fascinated if not more). The two were well on the way to becoming fast friends.   Aleck even indulged in the voltaics, explaining the concept to Henry and Evie, who both perked up at the idea. Henry had thrown out a few suggestion in regards to the electronics, which Aleck eagerly jotted on a napkin after assuring that he would be alright to look further into these ideas (Henry would be delighted, he said, so long as he got to help when the final product was being tested), and he scribbled a few thoughts of his own as well.   Once their meals came, though, they ate in relative silence, speaking between courses and while waiting for the bill (which the Frye’s beat the other’s two, placing their cards down before Henry or Aleck could even look at it). Neither put up an argument, conceding that “We’ll pay next time, then” and letting the Frye’s do as they pleased. They would, regardless of what Henry and Aleck did, anyway. 

Finally, when they parted ways, Aleck and Evie hugged one another and kissed each other’s cheeks, and Henry and Aleck shared a firm handshake, which soon turned to a farewell hug as well. The couples agreed that they would definitely have to have a repeat of the evening sometime soon, and the boyfriends conceded that they were happy to have someone to talk to about the challenges of dating a Frye sibling.  
 Jacob and Aleck were soon off, after watching Henry and Evie until they turned the corner. Aleck was soon back in his favorite place, on the back of the motorcycle holding onto Jacob, and they were back off to Aleck’s apartment. The journey back was short and pleasant, despite the bit of a chill that had set into the evening, but it gave Aleck an excuse to snuggle up tighter as they rode. 

When they pulled up in front of the apartment, Aleck hopped off the bike and removed his helmet, lifting the visor of Jacob's and stealing a kiss. “I’ll see you this weekend, then, love?” Aleck murmured, nuzzling their noses together and pressing their foreheads close for a quick moment. 

“Sounds lovely. Friday evening?” 

“Movie night?” 

“Perfect.”

“Let me know when you get home?” 

“Naturally.” Jacob grinned and stole another kiss, watching to make sure Aleck got safely inside before taking off into the evening. Aleck watched Jacob leave from his window, waiting for his goodnight text before he got ready for bed and comfortably fell asleep, excited already for their next date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> waaaahhhh i'm sorry this took so long bahaha  
> i'm gonna try and hurry to get the next two done because i am SO EXCITED TO WRITE CHAPTER NINE??  
> also i was feeling very nostalgic when I wrote this, and The Fable was my absolute favorite place to eat when I visited London, sooooo.. <3 https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/05/61/82/fa/getlstd-property-photo.jpg Here's their table, I love it so much   
> Lemme know what you think!  
> -krys


	7. Chapter 7

Henry and Aleck had done their fair share of bonding the past few weeks, usually texting and even going off on their own once or twice for lunch. It was nice having someone else to talk to, Aleck thought, and he would certainly have to introduce Henry and Freddy at some point. They would definitely get along. Much to Aleck’s joy, Henry stayed true to his word and had begun to teach Aleck floriography whenever they were together, even through texts sometimes. 

Even more to his delight, his relationship with Jacob had grown in the time they had spent together. Many of Jacob’s days and nights off, they were now spending together. They were always with one another, it seemed, and Aleck couldn’t remember a time where he felt this safe, this loved, in his life. He was finally in a relationship that was, well… What a relationship should be, and it was brilliant. A lot of their dates, though, seemed to stay confined to the area that the two lived, so when Jacob suggested that they venture out and adventure elsewhere, Aleck was all ears and all smiles. There were quite a few places that he had been wanting to visit, but he didn’t feel like making the trek alone. 

With Jacob’s offer now standing, they could venture to all of the places Aleck had only dreamt of until then. He had heard of quite a few places on the other side of town that he would love to visit, and now that Jacob wanted to go out on a longer adventure than their usual coffee shop date… The world was in the palms of their hands. Of course, he didn’t jump to suggesting them right away, instead asking what Jacob was interested in doing. He suggested that they find their way downtown and adventure until they thought of something else to do. Aleck smiled and agreed easily. 

So on the next Saturday, that was exactly what they planned to do. Aleck knew there were tons of museums, galleries, so many spectacular things that he had never had a chance to see, the idea of going out to adventure it all, especially when Jacob would be with him, well… How could Aleck turn that down? 

He got himself ready and waited outside, looking around at the unusually sunny skies while he waited for the familiar sound of Jacob’s bike to round the corner. 

It was going to be a good day. 

Jacob arrived right on time, and Aleck was quick to climb onto the back of the bike and wrap around him, holding tight as they rode off. They didn’t have any plans for the day, which was surprisingly nice, Aleck thought. He didn't have to worry about anything, as long as he was spending the day with Jacob. It was incredibly refreshing. 

It didn't take too long for them to find a place to park, a nice garage in the middle of everything, and soon the couple was walking hand-in-hand out to the street, looking over everything with wide, sparkling eyes. There was so much they could do, so much that Aleck had never had the chance to do, and he was so excited to be able to share all of it with Jacob. 

“So, what do you have in mind?” He asked after a silent moment, just taking in their surroundings. Jacob shrugged a little bit.

“This is your day, whatever you want to do.” He said, giving Aleck’s hand a gentle squeeze. 

Aleck could have outshone the sun. “What about the museum? I’ve never had a chance to go..” He said softly, giving a bit of a shy smile Jacob’s way before the other man returned it, big and bright as well. 

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.” He responded easily, laughing as Aleck lit up and excitedly pulled him along, eyes lighting up as soon as they were in the museum. Before Aleck could, Jacob payed both of their admission fees and gestured for him to lead the way. Aleck was bouncing on his heels before they even got started.   
 ~

Just as Jacob expected, Aleck took his sweet time. He read every single thing on every single little plaque, and occasionally, if something was interesting enough, he would turn around with a grin and recount the information to Jacob. He nodded along every time, beaming at Aleck, who would bounce and turn back to the exhibits after he spoke every time. He never noticed that, though Jacob listened, he never once looked at the exhibits. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from Aleck, and _god_ , if Jacob didn’t look at Aleck like he was the universe… 

Finally, their gazes met, and Jacob was caught. He smiled a little bit when he noticed a gentle pink flush rise over Aleck’s cheeks, but he didn’t say anything about it, just leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against his lips, pulling back and leaving poor Aleck a stuttering mess. 

It took him a few moment to recompose himself, but soon, he stood up straight again and sucked in a deep breath, failing to will away his blush despite his best efforts to do so. He cleared his throat and shook out his shoulders a bit, stammering for just a few seconds before he just carried on his way, reading the signs and displays. Jacob smiled fondly and stayed right by his side…

Their day stayed as such until Aleck had seen everything, and soon enough, they were heading for the door, Aleck hovering close beside Jacob and squeezing his hand here and there while he spoke. He truly was like an excited child as he recounted everything that they had seen, going off about how some of the things gave him such brilliant new ideas for his inventions, and how he couldn't wait to start sketching out some of these ideas, that some of the science he saw, “primitive” as it was, was enough to spark an idea for his voltaics. The trip seemed to be just enough to knock him out of the funk he had fallen into when it came to that project, he said, and he kept thanking Jacob over and over for the opportunity to get the new developments. 

His comments were cut short suddenly when they stepped outside and were met with a loud thunderclap and a damn near torrential rainfall. Jacob started to groan, but before he could, Aleck gasped and grinned, running out into it and letting himself get absolutely _soaked_. Jacob watched him with raised brows and a nearly dropped jaw. 

There he was, the brilliant mind, the genius Aleck Bell, spinning around underneath the pouring rain, all but splashing in the puddles. He turned back and flashed that cheesy smile to Jacob. 

Yep, that was all it took. 

Jacob was taken in by the man, who spun around under the downpour, finally turning to face him. When their eyes met, Aleck opened his arms to Jacob, who hesitated for just a moment before he stepped out from underneath the protective cover, cringing once the cold water dripped down his back, but he shook it off, letting himself get absolutely wrapped up in Aleck, who grinned and laughed and spun around with him until they finally stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, a soaking wet tangle, and just stared at each other. 

Surprisingly, Aleck was the one who closed the distance between the two of them, leaning in and pressing their lips together in a cold kiss. It was a strange sensation, kissing in the rain—especially when it was this heavy. Cold and wet and awkward, but it still felt amazing. Aleck’s hands went to rest behind Jacob’s neck. Jacob’s rested on the small of Aleck’s back. They stayed like that, wrapped up in one another in the rain for quite some time before the chill got to Aleck, and he snuggled up closer to Jacob. 

He took this as his cue to break the kiss and hold Aleck close as he scanned the shops. “Let’s go hide out there until this passes?” He suggested, gesturing to a little cafe a few storefronts away. Aleck nodded and glanced between the building and Jacob before he grinned and took his hand, shivering when he pulled away. That just urged him to run a little bit quicker though, Jacob in tow, until they were in the cafe. 

When they settled together in the corner of the room, Jacob with a coffee in hand and Aleck with hot cocoa, they both had stars in their eyes. They both smiled brightly, despite the fact that they were soaking wet. Neither of the men would admit it outloud quite yet, but both of them could feel themselves slipping slowly, falling in love with one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy fuck this is so short and it took so long im sorry guys omg   
> i hope you like it if anyone even cares anymore ahh i feel so bad im not gonna let the fic die though ahh 
> 
> im gonna start replaying syndicate before i leave for college again and hopefully that'll help me get this finished!! 
> 
> until next time, 
> 
> -krys


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surely, it was a strange way to change the subject, not what Jacob expected, but nonetheless he smiled, kissed the back of Aleck’s head. “You know, it never fails to astonish me how much you know…”

Everything was perfect. Aleck had never ben so happy in his life. The moments seemed to last forever when he was with Jacob, and he longed for more the second that they parted. Their relationship had gone on for about two months now, landing them in better places than they had ever seen. Jacob had (nearly) mellowed out, according to his sister, and Aleck was seeing more of the world than he thought he would. 

Maybe they were moving a little quickly, but neither of them cared much. Especially not when Aleck was holding tight to Jacob, riding on the back of his motorcycle and grinning to himself as they sped down the motorway to escape for the weekend. Jacob had a friend with a place in Wales, a place that was currently vacant. Just a quick conversation later and the pair had decided to take a holiday on the Welsh coast. 

The time away would do them both good.   
 Besides, Aleck had come to a screeching halt when it came to his invention. Not because he wanted to, oh no, but because he got stuck. That was the absolute worst, but if he could get his mind off of that with this vacation, spending the warm August evenings in the comfortable Welsh sunsets, well… That was enough to inspire any man, wasn’t it? 

Maybe he could even finish his prototypes completely when he got back. 

But he shook those thoughts away for now, making his work leave his mind again. After meeting Jacob, that was no longer an uncommon occurrence, in fact it happened every time they were together. Both of them could clear their mind of any worry, of anything beyond one another. It was spectacular. Aleck had never known his mind to be so calm. 

He subconsciously nestled a bit closer, tightened his arms around Jacob just a bit, smiled to himself. He couldn’t wait to get where they were staying. The ride was long and tiring, but he didn’t mind being in such close proximity to Jacob the whole time. That, he would never complain about. 

When they finally arrived, Aleck had nearly dozed off against his back. The sudden stop in momentum jarred him back to reality, and he jumped a bit, but soon stumbled his way off the bike to rush forward and look at their view…

The ocean stretched out before them, the small cabin settled just far and high enough back that even the cresting tide couldn’t reach it. The sun was just beginning to set on the water, brilliant and fiery orange filling the sky and reflecting in the waves, gently lapping at the coastline. Aleck let out a soft gasp, his helmet nearly falling from his grasp when he took it all in. 

“It’s amazing.” He said on a breath, eyes shimmering. He forced his gaze away from the water back to Jacob, who shared the same expression. 

Aleck could have looked at him like this and stayed in this moment for the rest of his life. 

They were soon snapped out of their wonder, though, and brought back to reality when Jacob shifted back toward his bike just slightly. “Let’s head inside, okay? We both need to rest, and we can watch the sun set the rest of the way before dinner. Sound good?” 

“I would love nothing more.” Aleck smiled a little bit and nodded, turning to help Jacob get their bags off of the bike and into the little cabin. The two shared a glance, and they both seemed to have reached the same conclusion; they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together here. 

Of course, Aleck knew he needed to keep his eyes focused towards the small picture for now, rather than on something so… Abstract, so _distant_ (as much as he hated that truth). He needed to focus on work, Jacob needed to focus on his life as well. 

They could dream, though. 

Soon enough, they were tucked away in the cabin, Jacob starting a fire and Aleck starting dinner, the two sharing it together on the back patio. They made the discovery during their meal that a hot tub sat pleasantly waiting for them, whenever they so desired, and they both agreed to take showers and soak for a while before bed. 

So that’s how Aleck landed himself in the hot tub, arms and legs pulled and wrapped to hide his torso—really, as much of his skin as he could. The sun was nearly gone, and the sky was brilliant; oranges, pinks, purples, and blues flooding the vast openness, reflecting into the clear blues of the water and shining off the white capped waves as they licked at the shoreline. 

Finally, with those visuals dancing about, Aleck relaxed, let his arms fall to his sides and just watched. 

When the sun was just vanished, Jacob joined him and slipped into the water, causing quite a spook for the poor inventor. He nearly yelped, shot up a bit and covered himself again with his arms and felt his cheeks flush dark. “Jacob!” He squeaked out. “You started me!” 

“I can see that, are you alright?” He asked, scarred brow raised up high and smile playing at the corner of his lips. 

Aleck gave him a quick once over, ignored the burning of his cheeks and bit his own lip. “Yes, I’m fine.” He insisted gently, trying not to let himself get too terribly distracted by the man before him. Of course he couldn’t help but look over the newly revealed muscled torso, the tattoos on his chest and arm, the gentle smattering of hair and the strangely alluring scars that littered his skin. 

Well, that certainly made him feel grossly incompetent. 

He curled up a bit more, tried to keep his gaze focused onto Jacob’s face and eyes, but it was apparently quite obvious how nervous he was getting. 

Jacob moved back in the water, creating a little more space between them. He knit his brows now, gently offered Aleck his hand and cocked his head to the side. “You’re hiding. What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing, nothing. Really.” He tried to insist, but his voice trembled as it left his lips.

Damnit. 

“Alexander, please don’t lie to me.” Jacob said softly. The other hand slowly took his hand, but stayed mostly curled up. 

“Really, it’s—”

“Aleck…” Jacob pleaded gently, worry seeping into his tone.

“Okay.” Aleck sucked in a breath and bit his lip. “Okay, I… You’re just… You’re so… Muscular, you’re strong, pretty, and I’m…” He looked away now, out at the ocean. His skin was pale, a little freckly and just… Not like Jacob’s. He didn’t get much sun. Not to mention his soft belly, the lack of muscular definition in his arms and legs… “I’m just..”

“Beautiful.” Jacob said softly, squeezed his hand and gently urged him closer. He tried to get him to unfurl himself, relax and let more of him be seen. “You’re beautiful.” 

Aleck gave him a look of disbelief. “I am no such thing…” He murmured softly and felt his cheeks flush. 

“You are, though. You’re soft, sweet… You have the cutest nose, the sweetest smile and the brightest eyes. You’re lovely, and I wouldn’t change a thing about you.” Jacob smiled, urged him closer yet again. 

Finally, Aleck relaxed, sucked in a breath and let Jacob look at him completely. The other man noted the discomfort still on Aleck’s face and just pulled him closer, pressed the smaller man’s back to his front and wrapped around him. Jacob kissed the top of his head, held both of his hands. It did take a moment, but he relaxed back against him and squeezed his hands a little, focused himself only on the stars that filled the sky. 

“Look…” Aleck murmured softly after a few moments of silence, gestured up at the sky in what looked to Jacob to be a random gesture. He pointed at a small cluster of stars and smiled. “That’s Lyra. The lyre. In Greek mythology, it’s said that Hermes made the lyre out of a turtle shell, then gave it to Apollo, who gave it to his son, Orpheus. Orpheus was an amazing musician, one of the Argonauts, and was said to be able to charm anything using the lyre. If you can see it in April, there’s a meteor shower, it looks like the meteors are falling from the instrument…” 

Surely, it was a strange way to change the subject, not what Jacob expected, but nonetheless he smiled, kissed the back of Aleck’s head. “You know, it never fails to astonish me how much you know…” 

They stayed in the water a while longer, Aleck pointing out and explaining the mythos behind each constellation he could spot. Jacob took in every word, his eyes sparkling a bit as he listened. It absolutely fascinated him how one man could know so much about so many different things, contain all that information in his mind. It was brilliant, really. Everything he said just had Jacob falling for him harder (not that he would admit that out loud). 

Soon enough, they headed inside together, Aleck having forgotten about his body issues and Jacob now filled with a strange new amount of Greek mythology. Each of them hopped quickly in the shower again to wash the chlorine off themselves before curling up in bed. Aleck had stolen a pair of Jacob’s pajamas again, slipped them on after toweling dry, then curled up in bed. 

Jacob joined him shortly after, and he barely had time to settle before Aleck had pressed into his side, snuggled up close and nosed at the crook of his neck. With Jacob’s earlier words, he had become much more relaxed, strangely self confident, and he was just… 

Happy. 

Happy to be in Wales, happy to be on the beach, and most importantly, happy to be in Jacob’s arms.

He leaned up after a quiet moment, gave a small smile, then pressed their lips together. 

It was soft, faint and fleeting, but still perfect. 

“Goodnight, Jacob…” 

“Goodnight, Aleck. Sweet dreams…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHOS BACK (BACK BACK) BACK AGAIN (GAIN GAIN) 
> 
> shit guys i am so sorry about how long this took me, but thanks to a comment i got on this fic, i was kicked back into gear and finally managed to get something else cranked out for this fic. i really didn't mean to abandon it this long, or at all really, but i just sort of lost my groove with it because my console is back home and i cant really play the game. 
> 
> i do have the rest of this fic mapped out though, and Im already about halfway through writing chapter nine. 
> 
> i know this isn't as long as the other chapters have been, but i'm trying!! 
> 
> thank you to everyone reading, those of you who have stuck with me and those of you who are just joining. thank you to the commenter who helped me find my muse to write again. 
> 
> just, thanks, guys. really. sending love. <3
> 
> until next time,  
> -krys
> 
> (PS, the whole bit with Lyra is a low key shoutout to my friend who just had her first daughter, and she named the little bean after the constellation Lyra! <3 )


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aleck shifted a little, reached over to take Jacob’s hand and lace their fingers. “I trust you. I want to give it another go.”

Aleck had never settled in somewhere so easily, but Wales was quickly becoming like a second home to him. 

The couple had spent about a week and a half there, and they only had a few days left of their trip before they would be making the trek back to London together. They would make the best of it, for sure, as they already had. They had gotten a majority of the little touristy shops out of the way the first few days, spent a large sum of their time combing the beach together, waking up early to check as the tide withdrew and gather shells, spend their days adventuring the little beach cities all around them.

It was perfect. 

Now, sitting together curled up on the couch after a satisfactory dinner, Aleck leaned back and pressed a soft kiss to Jacob’s cheek. “Do you want to go out tonight?”

“Out?” Jacob questioned, raising his brow. “Out where…?”

Aleck seemed a little nervous about the question, but he was trying, that much was clear. “Well, this has just been so nice, and.. I… Maybe we could consider this a redo of our first date?” He said softly, laced his fingers with Jacob’s and squeezed just slightly. 

Jacob took just a second, knit his brow a little before he raised them. “Oh.” Finally, it set in. “ _Oh_. Like… Like a club?” 

Aleck nodded a little, bit his lip. He was trying to stretch just past his comfort zones again, and after everything with Jacob, after the way the other man had stood up for him the first time, he thought, well… Maybe this would be alright.

Maybe he could let loose and have fun completely. Nothing could get in their way in Wales, they were pretty much free of anyone they knew or anything that could go wrong, anyway. 

“He’s in jail now, and we’re in Wales anyway. There’s no chance he could ruin it this time… And…” Aleck shifted a little, reached over to take Jacob’s hand and lace their fingers. “I trust you. I want to give it another go.” 

Wow.

Definitely not what Jacob had expected, but… “Are you sure about this?” 

“Yes. I’ve been thinking it over for a while.” Weeks, if he was being honest. 

Jacob still seemed a little hesitant, but he nodded. “If it starts to get too heavy, too much, we can leave. Promise you’ll tell me if it is?” He insisted gently. 

“Of course, Jacob.”

“Say it, please?” 

Aleck laughed, kissed his cheek. “I promise I’ll tell you how I feel, all night. I won’t let this get out of hand, and if it starts to, I promise I’ll tell you that we need to leave. Good?”

“Good.” Jacob squeezed his hand, laced their fingers. “I suppose… I should look and see where we could go? Or did you already plan that far?” He teased just a bit, only to be nudged in the side. 

“No, I didn’t. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I would have the courage to say it while we were here.” Aleck admitted softly, gave a nervous little laugh. This was a big step for him after everything, but he was more than willing to take it. Especially if Jacob would be by his side. 

~~  
So that’s how they landed there, a nightclub with blacklight decor lining the walls and fluorescent colored drinks in their hands. The music was obnoxious, but Aleck, being an audiophile, had some nice ear plugs that he had brought along for them both, muting the sounds but not making conversation impossible. 

He smiled a little and sipped slowly at his drink, shivering a little at how strong the liquor was. Whoever mixed it didn’t have the same skill that Jacob did, Aleck noted, but kept drinking through the burn. He didn’t want the evening to end so soon. 

Halfway through the glass and he was beginning to loosen up substantially, and another drink was all it took for him to grab Jacob’s hand and drag him out to the dance floor. Shocked by how forward the other was being (and admittedly, how much he was drinking, Jacob stumbled alongside Aleck and grinned a little. He rested his hands gently on the other’s hips as Aleck started to move with the rhythm of the song with a surprising fluidity. 

Jacob chuckled and moved along with him, eager to please his partner and enjoy their night out as well, as unusual as it was to see Aleck so loose.

They danced along to every song that rattled the speakers, regardless of whether or not they knew it, and about half an hour and a couple more trips to the bar in, Aleck had made a move to take it further. 

Aleck turned to kiss Jacob slow and deep. His tongue flicked out to trace along the other’s lower lip, and Jacob shivered when he could taste the liquor on his lips and the sparks on his tongue. There was a passion there that Jacob didn’t know the other held, and he was beyond eager to chase it. 

Admittedly, neither of them were fully sober, but Aleck was far further from himself than Jacob was in that moment, and he wasn’t too sneaky about it. Kissing him on the dance floor like that never would have passed in mind of a stone cold sober Aleck, but with the liquor teasing at his brain, the other was happy to let loose and egg Jacob into something heavier. 

His tongue was heavy and slow, but eagerly inched it’s way into Jacob’s mouth, licking into a heavy kiss as his hands started to trail over as much of Jacob’s body as they could, tugging at the hem of his shirt to try and urge it over his head. Jacob caught both of his hands and held them instead, not wanting them to get kicked out, and instead broke the intensity of the affection with small, sweet pecks to his lips. 

“Hey now, luv, slow it down.” He chuckled. “We have all night, no need to rush…” He whispered and took the other back to the bar, ordering himself another drink. He made sure that the bartender knew it was about time for Aleck to only be getting glasses of water and other soft drinks.   
Aleck stayed pressed against him the whole time he was getting his drink, holding onto his arm and trying to urge him back to the dance floor. Jacob chuckled a little and downed the shot, then let Aleck lead him back out. 

After a couple more songs and a few more attempts to get his hands up under Jacob’s shirt, Aleck began to paw at him and mouth at his neck. “Think we should head back..” He said, voice a low purr that sent shockwaves through Jacob.

The taller man shuddered and bit his lip, his eyes a bit hazy when he looked back down at Aleck. He _definitely_ wanted to take this further, no doubt there, but most importantly, he needed to make sure Aleck was safe in their room and hydrated the best he could be so the hangover didn’t _literally_ kill him the following morning. 

Jacob helped Aleck out to the curb, hailing a cab and helping him into the backseat. The entire ride back to the vacation home involved Aleck in his lap, arms wrapped around him and lips against his neck. Truly, that was going to drive Jacob absolutely _mad_ , but again, much more important things to worry about. 

As they stumbled in together, Aleck found himself in a fit of giggles, trying to toe out of his shoes at the door while maintaining both his balance and his hold on Jacob. This was, of course, easier said than done for the poor bloke, and he was starting to stumble over himself. Jacob, always one to help his damsel in drunken distress, carefully crouched down and untied Aleck’s shoes for him, helping him out of them before taking his own off and casting them aside. 

He helped Aleck back into the bedroom, trying to settle him down on the way as his mind slowly returned to him. As much as he wanted this close proximity, to touch Aleck, feel him, _taste him_ , now was _absolutely_ not the right time to do that. Not when Aleck probably didn’t even remember his own name, not when he couldn’t say yes—more accurately, not when Jacob couldn’t hear him begging for it and know that he truly meant it with every fiber of his being, every little iota of Aleck. 

Of course, the sweet drunk thing had different plans, and as soon as Aleck was down on the bed, he was pulling Jay down on top of him, colliding their lips together in another messy kiss. 

Jacob slowed it quickly, soon leading down to a few steady and sweet pecks as he tried his best to ignore Aleck’s wanton little sounds. 

“‘ey, Aleck, luv, we need to take it easy. We need to talk about this.” He whispered softly, lips still brushing the smaller man’s with every word he spoke. 

He let out a small whine of protest, eyes a little hazy when they finally peeked open. “Don’t wanna wait, don’t wanna take it easy.” He whispered and nipped Jacob’s lip, tongue taking the time to trace the scar that hugged it. “Want _you_.” 

_Lord, show me how to say no to this._ Jacob sucked in a slow breath, his own will power threatening to crumble, but he kept it as solid as he possibly could. “Not tonight, Aleck. Tomorrow, maybe. When you’re more present.” 

But by the time Jacob finished speaking, Aleck’s eyes had fluttered shut and he was fast asleep, lips parted just a little bit as he snored. He laughed gently in response and pecked his lips gently, then with a little bit of gentle effort managed to strip him to his boxers and tank top, shift him to his side, and curl around him once a bottle of water and some ibuprofen sat in wait for the next morning on the nightstand. 

With his arms securely around Aleck, Jacob was completely at ease (save for the knowledge of the definite morning wood he would have to deal with). He kissed the back of Aleck’s neck, then very softly against it whispered a sweet “I love you.” 

And god, did he love Aleck, drunken mishaps and all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _oh sweet jesus christ this took forever_
> 
> Hey y'all. since the last update i have a projected grad date for my degree and i've changed my major like twice??? but w/e. i promise this fic isn't dead, i won't let it die, but i'm just??? hella stressed and have little time (despite the hamilton fics, most of which are done a tad bit manically). 
> 
> also sorry for the blatant hamilton reference in this one. 
> 
> until next time, hopefully sooner than 10 months away (i'm so sorry, thank u for sticking it out if you did <3)   
> -krys


End file.
